Hall 2 Basketball crashed out of this year's IHG in dramatic fashion, falling to Hall 10 in controversial circumstances and losing with a heartbreaking scoreline of 57-58. Heartbreaking indeed, literally in fact, if there was a word to describe our pain and despair.
Boasting a combined 4 Most Valuable Player Titles (probably more than all the other 15 halls combined), the current NTU captain, Ex National Youth & Combined Schools captain, this year's basketball team was touted as the "dream team" and boy, did we dream of avenging our defeat to Hall 6 in the final next week, only for those very same dreams, to be crushed into fantasies and "what ifs". Blank stares and stunned faces loomed around the SRC indoor court when ironically, the man closest to one of our very own teammates, turned villain and along with the "swishhh" sound of the ball falling perfectly through the net, our hopes and aims shattered and fell through into the abyss. The silence among the team on the basketball court was deafening, the heartache and internal struggle and mental torture every single player was going through never seemed more obvious.
Rewind approximately an hour back, everything was going to plan, Hall 2 ended the 1st quarter on a strong note with a scoreline of 21-16. It all seemed well, our plays were running, the opponents were always on the backfoot, but the potential dangers of Hall X were always there. It probably seemed too rosy and smooth-sailing and true enough, Hall 10 came out in the 2nd quarter firing on all cylinders, empowered and strengthened, even their Center began knocking down 3 pointers one after another. Hall 2 was taken by surprise, the script was not written to be this way, we were supposed to be building on on our lead but at the end of the 1st half, Hall X had pulled level, evening the scoreline and sending shockwaves through the Hall 2 contingent.
Start of 3rd Quarter, Hall 10's main players were getting into a little bit of a foul trouble and their fringe players took to the battlefield. Perhaps drawing inspiration and confidence from their starters, even their bench players turned into sharpshooters, throwing up prayer after prayer into the air only for them to be answered, unfortunately of course. Hall 2's normal rhythm was evidently disrupted and to an extent, halted till an 8 point lead was being built by our opponents at the end of the 3rd quarter. We were staring at defeat and elimination in the face, undaunted however. We knew that we did not want to go home yet, we knew that we did not want to go down without a fight, and we did just that.
Once the 4th Quarter started, there was no stopping the Hall 2 Express Train, we sparked an 11-0 run which opened up a 3 point lead for us. We were finally showing the world what we were capable of. Perhaps this would be one of the greatest comebacks in IHG history, but no, silly mistakes and turnovers by us presented Hall 10 with chance after chance. We managed to stay ahead, albeit slightly, with 42 seconds left, a 3 point lead and our possession still. However, our play did not go to plan and once again, Hall 10 were running up the court with the ball. They were always and only going to put the ball into the hands of their saviour and true enough, the said person had the ball, he was always going to shoot and predictably, he did so. However, a fair contest by our player was probably misjudged as a foul and 3 foul shots went their way. All 3 of them were sunk in, just like a dagger would into our hearts one by one by one. Slowly but surely, the match was tied again. With 7 seconds left, we called for a timeout, we had possession, we could still win this. An open shot at the baseline meant that Chun Hoe was always going to fancy his chances, however, the ball bounced off the rim and went out of bounds. There was probably 1 second left on the clock and as long as we do not commit a foul, the game would go into overtime and we were always favourites to take it once it goes into that stage. But it was not meant to be, divine help intervened and a mis-pass by our opponent (he even shouted "shit") meant that the inbound pass was not cleanly done and the ball hobbled its way to its intended target. The ball was there for the taking, our players were always going to fight for the loose ball, however, our nemesis got to the ball 0.0000000000000000001 seconds ahead of Chun Hoe and the Law of Inertia meant that Chun Hoe was always going to knock into him. It was perceived as a foul by the officials and time had already expired, meaning that our destiny would be decided by the foul shots. The only way we could have lost had happened. Our nemesis seemed like he had not missed a foul shot in his life, but life just had to play a cruel joke on us, giving us false hopes when he missed his 1st shot. Every single thing hinged on this final shot, all the sweat, blood, trainings, friendlies, down the drain or up into the sky? Luck was never on our side throughout the whole game, and indeed, our effort, dreams and hopes all went down with that shot:
The "Dream Team" had been eliminated.
Nonetheless, a tribute to the team for their dedication, effort, commitment and hard work, deep down inside we know that we're the best guys, and no one can take that away from us.
