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Away to Indonesia U21: 124-136 (L)
First things first, thank you very much for putting faith in my for another term. Our games officially start next Monday, but we managed to have a friendly match against our friendly SEA neighbours Indonesia U21.

Both teams had a pretty decent shootout. It seemed like defense was non existent as both teams hit above 50% from outside. Both teams had 7 players hit double digits.

Goh Kwang Jia was our best offensive player last night, with a shooting split of 64/57/88. He finished the game with a game high 29 points while dishing out 8 assists. The only player who distributed the ball better last night was Sng Hao Heng, who had a game high 9 assists to his name as he flirted with a double double. He also had 13 points and 4 rebounds to his name, and hit all three of his 3 pointers. He was arguably the best player in our team last night as he finished the game with a +/- of +6. While most players posted up some really efficient offensive stats, Streaky Ming continued to blow hot and cold this season. He scored 14 points, but he only hit 25% of his field goals (5 of 20) and hit 4 of 9 of his free throws. He also missed all of his 3 pointers and turned over the ball 3 times. Thankfully, last night was a scrimmage, so let's hope he goes back to his superstar mode and carry the team in the next game.

We face South Korea U21 next, so the enthusiasm reset will be this Saturday. I will finalize the squad by then. Let's hope for a great season ahead!

go for miracle run!!!

Good job and may lady luck follow you these next two seasons as well!

Thanks for the well wishes. But yea, we really need lady luck and miracles this season. It's the first training of the season and we got hit with 4 bad GS players due to overplaying. I have dropped 3 of them, retaining Kwa Ming because his GS was fine last season, so it could be an outlier. So without further ado, let me introduce the U21 squad which we will start the season with!

Back Court
1. Sng Hao Heng
He was called up late last season to play scrimmages with us, playing behind Poh Sze Jian and putting up 3 APG in 11.8 MPG. He was handed the keys to the offense this season, and put up a respectable 13 points 4 rebounds 9 assists last week.

2. Kwa Ming
We call him Streaky Ming thanks to his inconsistencies, but don't look down on him. He put up 33 points on 13/18 shooting (6/6 free throws) against Vietnam U21 last season, one game after scoring 7 points from 1 of 6 from the field (5/8 free throws). He can hit double digits any time on a good day, but he's even went Dennis Rodman once, against Argentina U21, where he had 0 points 7 rebounds 7 assists, missing all 11 of his field goal attempts (4 from downtown). That said, despite his streaky shooting, he is still an important player to our team, as he can do more than just score.

3. Pang Ka Long
Performed decently in his last game, with 6 points in 12 minutes shooting 50% from the field.

4. Goh Kwang Jia
Put up some amazing stats on Monday with 29 points and 8 assists. Look forward to him leading our offense this season.

Front Court
1. Kum Fu Keong
A pretty decent shooter, scored 10 points on 50% shooting (3 of 4 from three) off the bench on Monday.

2. Thong Chong Lai
Featured in 2 scrimmages late last season, putting up an average of 11.5 points 3 rebounds and 3 assists in 26.8 MPG. He hasn't played yet this season, but looks like he will finally get his chance next Monday. A really promising prospect, especially when he is just 20 this season.

3. Hu Chaoting
Another quality product from the "U21 factory" PhantoMech (I won't be surprise if they have the most U21 players in history, I seem to have one or two coming in every few seasons). He played in 2 scrimmages last season, just 10.2 minutes in average and put up a modest average of 6 points and 1 rebound. He performed much better on Monday, thanks to having extended time, and put up 17 points and 8 rebounds. Expect him to play an important role in the team.

4. Jimmy bin Elbert
Just like Hu, he hails from PhantoMech. Although he only joined us this season, as he is only 20 years old. He had 6 points, 1 assists and 1 rebound on Monday.

5. Seah Yew Shi
The highest paid player on the team. Aside from Kwa Ming, he is the only other player to have played official games last season, including the 5-man overtime win against Paraguay U21. He had 20 points 9 rebounds 6 assist in that game, and shot a decent split of 60/50/80. He missed the game against Indonesia U21 on Monday, but you can look forward to him in the upcoming game.

We play South Korea U21 this coming Monday. Let's hope lady luck shines on us.

Win vs South Korea U21: 122-113
We had a bad first half, but the third gave us hope. Down by 4 heading into the final lap, a comeback seemed possible and it seemed like we were on pace to escape the claws of our opponents. But that 4 point lead quickly turned into a double digit lead. But our boys pushed on. We reached single digits midway through the fourth, but the Koreans were stubborn and kept us at arms length. With less than 2 minutes to go, the Koreans brought in their freshly rested starters to finish us off, and Yong Won-Sang did just that - he hit a jumper from the wing which everyone thought would have been the dagger.

But thankfully, our boys didn't give up. Hack-a-Shaq strategies got us within 5 points with less than a minute left, and that was when Goh Kwang Jia took over.

He was pretty quiet all game. By then he just had 12 points on 40% shooting and missed all 4 of his 3 point attempts. How could the guy expected to lead our offense end his night with such numbers? He must have felt the same, as he slid into space to and fired a quick jumper from the top of the key to cut the lead to 3, but Yong Won-Sang caught him as he was going up and sent him to the line. He hit both of his clutch free throws, before launching a three over Yong Won-Sang to send the game into overtime.

But that wasn't all from him. He hit 15 of our 22 OT points, even outscoring South Korea U21, to finish the game with 32 points on 54% shooting. What's most amazing was that he hit all 3 of his three point attempts and was 5 of 6 from the field in OT. Kum Fu Keong also put in an amazing performance, with a 25 point 10 rebound double double. He also had 5 steals, including one crucial steal near the end of the 4th to spark our comeback. Jimmy Elbert also had a double double with 10 point and 18 rebounds (5 OR). He also blocked 4 shots and hit all 2 of his three pointers. Despite that impressive two way statline, he was pretty unlucky as he ended the game as the only player with a negative +/- (-11). Meanwhile Sng Hao Heng flirted with a double double with 12 points and 9 assists. With 18 assists in 2 games, will he emulate the feats of Poh Sze Jian?

We face Pakistan U21 next Monday. Let's hope our players have good game shape!

Win vs Pakistan U21: 108-106
The game was too close for comfort honestly, we started off with quite a comfortable lead but the Pakistanis almost staged a comeback against us. Going into this game, I expected Goh Kwang Jia to play little to no part in the team as his game shape was unsatisfactory. The same goes for Kwa Ming, hence Kum Fu Keong had his second start in 2 games, and the latter did not disappoint.

Kum Fu Keong finished the game with 27 points 7 rebounds and 5 assists while shooting 50% from the field and 44% from 3. Another standout player was Sng Hao Heng, who once again showed his prowess in controlling the offense, dishing out 8 assists alongside 15 points from 54% shooting. He now has 8.7 apg, and is projected to break Poh Sze Jian's season assist record, should he manage to keep it up for another 11 games.

The other 3 starters stuffed the stat sheet (Jimmy 12 pts 12 reb, Seah 16 pts 7 reb 7 ast, Pang 20 pts 6 reb 5 ast) but failed to make much impact on winning, as all 3 had negative +/-. It boiled down to Hu Chaoting making the biggest impact, as he was +14 in 17 minutes. His stats might not be impressive (6 pts 3 ast 2 blk), but he did all the dirty work that didn't show up in the box score.

Our next game will be against India U21. Should we win, we would virtually secure our place in the next round (unless Japan loses to one of the other countries we beat). Let's hope everything goes well for our boys!

Great job here, congrats!

GG amazing work so far!

Win vs India U21: 89-82
We did it! Our boys are through to the next round! Although it is also thanks to Japan U21 from beating South Korea U21. Even if we lose our next 3 games, we will finish with a 3-3 record, and that should be 4th place at worst, as South Korea U21 and India U21 would battle it out to see who finishes with a 1-5 or 2-4 game record (assuming India U21 beats Pakistan U21, and based on tonight's game, it is highly possible).

Things started off pretty badly for us. I didn't expect them to be that strong. At the surface they seemed similar to us quality-wise. Plus we had a good GS week. But they just burst ahead with a 5 point lead in the first, then kept us at bay all the way til the third, where our boys slowly chipped away the lead, before Seah Yew Shi dished a sweet one to Jimmy Elbert, to brought the crowd to their feet with a thunderous dunk to take the lead.

Then it was a totally different game in the final lap. Our boys raced to a 21-8 run in the 4th, before taking their foot off the pedal. It got awfully close near the end, and our opponents we trying their luck with Hack-a-Shaq, where they almost succeeded. Thankfully, Sng Hao Heng came in with the clutch. He hit two clutch FTs with 23 seconds to go, extending the lead to 5, then stopped two consecutive shots, and got sent to the line again where he hit another two shots, then challenged another two shots to hand us the dub.

Contribution was pretty even throughout the team, with all our starters hitting double digits, and two players coming close. The ball was also well spread around with 5 players having 4 or more assists. Sng Hao Heng of course, had the most, with 8 assists. He now has 8.5 apg, on pace for 119 assists this season. Let's hope he keeps up the good work. Kwa Ming spent another game on the bench, but he was the spark that ignited our comeback, finishing the game with an amazing +18 to cement his position as our most impactful player.

We will be facing Philippines U21 next. Let's hope our boys put on a good show as we prepare for the next qualifying round.

Epic stuff, congrats!

Thanks! The NT is also amazing. Consolation tourney is always hard but you still pulled off a 3 game winning streak!