Defending Champion Strolled in First Win

It was a stroll in the park for defending Champion, Home United as they thrashed Chong Ghee Sports Club 77-51 last night in the Singapore Basketball Center. Home United with new faces like Forward, Jason Goh, Impressive Center, Alan, Point Guard, Wei Kang and Jacob proved too much for Chong Ghee to handle.

The match end prematurely when Home United took a 30 points lead some time in the 2nd quarter. Displaying an impressive strong full court man press and outstanding man marking in the 1st half, Chong Ghee could only score less than 15 points in the 1st half. Rookie Center, Alan made his debut game for Home United and impressed the crowd and his team-mates with his outstanding contribution in defence. He got his 4th out of 6 block shot of the game in the 2nd quarter stopped nearly every Chong Ghee attacks in the paint.

Home suffered a blow when key point guard, Jason Tan was injured his ankle as early as in the 1st quarter. Although he was later involved in the last quarter, he barely managed a couple of minutes before Wei Kang substituted him off the court. As veteran Chua Boon Heng missed the last night game, the play-making responsibilities fell in the hands of Jacob and Wei Kang who showed that they can be called upon.

Maybe the game looked too one sided that the crowd started to head home during half time. Home United performance in the 2nd half was not as impressive as compared to the 1st, causing some turnovers and lapse of concentration in defence. Maybe a sign of complacency or they simply took the game too lightly during the 3rd.

Captain Koh Meng Koon once again leads the scoring for Home while Alan hits on a double-digit scoring to cap an impressive debut. If Home puts on that kind of defence showed in the first half, it is no doubt that they will be champion again this season.

On the earlier match, NUS also capped their 1st win against the newly promoted Min Yi. It will be interesting to see how these two newbie perform against the rest of the team.