BuzzerBeater Forums

Asia U21 Championships Game 2: vs Vietnam U21
Our boys picked up a satisfying 21 point victory against Vietnam U21 today.

Amir Quiyum showed how to lead from the front today, as the captain picked up his second double double in two U21 games this season by scoring 28 points and grabbing 15 rebounds. He was also a force on defense, with 2 steals and 2 blocks, holding Vietnam U21's star bigman Nien Nguyen to only shoot 40% (6 of 15) from the field.

After having a hot hand last week, Murphy Ang had a quieter game tonight, scoring just 16 points at 47% (8 of 17). However he was still equally focused on defense, with 3 steals and 1 block to his name.

Vietnam was pretty tough in the post, while their 2-3 defense allowed our outside players to drive into the lane more often, it also allow them to box our players out, preventing us from crashing the boards. This saw us grab 9 less offensive rebounds compared to them. We also committed more fouls and sent them to the line more often, with Zhang Fu Qiang getting into foul trouble and his opposing counterpart Om Nguyen having a game high 7 free throw attempts. Our players were also quite nervous at the charity stripe, only hitting 7 of 13 of our free throws.

Despite not playing a perfect game, our boys came out with a big win. Our next game will be against U.A.E. U21. After two tough games against Hong Kong U21 and Philippines U21, the we will be their easiest opponent yet. Quality wise, they better players than Vietnam U21, and have players with good game shape as well.

Let's make sure our players stay fit everyone! Don't overplay or underplay them this week. Hopefully we increase our winning streak to 3 games next week.

Asia U21 Championship Game 3: vs U.A.E. U21
After enduring an early scare which saw our boys trail by four in the first quarter, our boys found their groove and never looked back. Trailing by 2 with barely a minute left to go, Zhang Fu Qiang found Sylvester Andy open in the paint, and the 20 year old forward threw down a powerful jam to tie the game. This was followed by a corner three by Zhang Fu Qiang to finish the quarter ahead by 3.

The Emiratis were pretty stubborn opponents - they kept our defense busy by crashing the board throughout the game (22 OR). But your boys were resilient and stood strong against the onslaught, holding them to 29% from the field (25 of 85) and 17% from the arc (4 of 23). However, we still gave up 20 free throws (14 made) from 17 fouls. Nevertheless, our boys defensive play won it for us this time, and even though the referee was stricter on us tonight (as usual, for the record we currently commit 16.6 fouls per game and our opponents shoot 17 free throws per game, while we have drawn 7.3 fouls per game and only shoot 9.3 free throws per game), we still managed to pull through. Credits to our big men Seet Woon Long and Amir Quiyum for anchoring the defense. Seet stripped the ball off his opponent 3 times and rejected another, while Amir produced 4 blocks and 1 steal. Seet also led our team in rebounds, grabbing half of our offensive rebounds to finish the game with 15 boards.

Other than defensive effort, our offense wasn't too shabby, with 6 players hitting double digit in points and hitting 48% of our shots from the field (43% from beyond the arc). The offense was led by Zhang Fu Qiang, who finished the game with a team high 18 points (42% from field) and 3 assists. However our free throw numbers, as usual, was pretty abysmal. We have currently only made 50% of our attempts from the charity stripe despite having some good shooters. Must be the butterflies in their stomachs.

We have a break next week, which will be a scrimmage, before facing off against Hong Kong U21 and Philippines U21. Hopefully everyone will continue to maintain our players game shape. We are currently 3-0 and on top of the pool standings (although not for long). Let's hope to get one more win and make it to the next round!

nice writing!

Friendly Game: vs Argentina U21
Our boys finally tasted their first defeat of the season, being thrashed 82-57 in a blowout game against Argentina U21. The Argentinians were in control from the start, leading by 24-10 after the first quarter, and held us to 32 points in 3 quarters. The blowout loss to them was a wake up call for our boys, and a tough reminder of what we will potentially be facing off against next Monday. On paper, we were by far the weaker side. So it was not surprising that we received such a thumping.

Amir Quiyum led the team in rebounds with 12, but no one else came close. However, Seet Woon Long helped win possessions back by grabbing a game high 6 offensive rebounds. However, most of our stats weren't really remarkable. As usual, our team still had foul problems, sending the Argentinians to the line 21 times, which allowed them to earn 17 points. Our free throw shooters meanwhile, only made 5 of 12 shots from the charity stripe, with Seet Woon Long going 2 of 6 and Zhang Fu Qiang, who is supposed to be pretty good in free throws, canned both his attempts. Zhang Fu Qiang also got into foul trouble by committing 5 fouls.

On the plus side, we have 6 players with proficient game shape this week. Several players have maintained this gameshape for weeks. Would be great if they maintain it, and more players start to hit the sweet spot. Keep it up guys!

We will be facing Hong Kong U21 next Monday. Even though we can't expect anything much out of it, but please keep your game shapes up everyone!

Asia U21 Championship Game: vs Hong Kong U21
Our boys finally tasted their first official defeat against Hong Kong U21 today. Despite being prepared to match their fast paced offense, their quality was too good and they ran our boys out of the court with a 46 point victory, our biggest loss so far.

Ho Meng Chi was the best offensive player from the team, finishing the game with 12 points (50% from field) and 3 assists, while Amir Quiyum was our defensive anchor, with 2 steals and 3 blocks.

On a less positive note, our players were outclassed on the boards. Despite picking up 12 offensive rebounds, we could only pick up 22 defensive rebounds, giving the ball away to our opponents 15 times. We also had problems overcoming their defense, shooting 30% from the field and an abysmal 12% from 3.

We will be facing Philippines U21 next Monday. Please keep their game shapes up, managers! Despite us having virtually no chance against them, it's still good practice to maintain their game shape (it will also benefit your team in the long run).

Asia U21 Championship Game: vs Philippines U21
There hasn't been a more disappointing loss for our boys, as they rallied to recover from the 9 point first quarter deficit to take a lead Midway in the third. Then we crashed. While it was an expected loss at the start, our boys fought tooth and nail all the way til the third before collapsing, making this loss super hard to swallow.

That said, our boys performed well while they could, and there are some stellar performances to look back on.

Yap Tse Leng was looking good after training this week and was handed his first start for the U21. He responded in terrific fashion by putting in a career NT game. While his field goal percentage wasn't much to shout about, he led the team with 17 points on 43% shooting from the arc. He also grabbed 10 rebounds to finish the game with a double-double.

Captain Amir Quiyum was his usual effective self on the boards again this game, leading the team with 12 rebounds (6 on each end). However he was less effective on offense, making only 1 of 6 shots from the arc while missing every 2 point shot.

Meanwhile, Sylvester Andy and Seet Woon Long were the defensive anchors for the starters and the bench respectively. Woon Long stripped his opponents of the ball 3 times in the game, while Sylvester managed 2 steals and 1 block.

We will be facing South Korea U21 next week. Please keep our players' game shape up! It's not necessarily a must win game, as we have qualified for the next round, but a W is always good.