In a classic size versus speed match-up, the latter won out as The Philippine School (TPS) raced past The Indian High School Dubai (IHS) 43-29 in the U16 group of the National School League (NSL) Basketball.
TPS opened their campaign in promising fashion at GEMS Sports Academy, despite being at a severe height disadvantage. To combat the size mismatch, they focused on leveraging their skill and pace by running in transition.
The strategy worked as John Carlo Bautista scored a game-high 18 points on several fast break layups by leaking out on IHS missed shots.
“Every time we face a team with a big guy or a big team, we run,” TPS coach Edward Enriquez said. “I told the boys to keep pushing the ball because if we play slow, then we’ll not win.”
On defence, the key for TPS was limiting entry into the paint, where IHS big man Kedar Kale had his way with 12 points and 12 rebounds. Once the zone of TPS started locking down on the perimeter, however, chances were few for IHS.
“We stayed in the zone and I told the boys to deny the passing lanes to the big men,” Enriquez said. “Don’t let the point guard get easy passes to the big men and prevent the passing lanes.”
The most impressive individual performance of the day came from Tanishq Sughnani, who led shorthanded Dubai International Academy (DIA) to a 28-19 victory over Dubai British School (DBS).
Sughnani carried the offence with 18 points, playing every minute for DIA who had only six players. DBS threw double teams at the point guard in the second half, but he was unfased and displayed his brilliant ball-handling and ability to finish at the rim.
“I think we played really well,” Sughnani said. “We just didn’t play good enough defence in the last quarter, but overall we played a very good game.”
The 15-year-old from Mumbai, India, listed Kyrie Irving, Damian Lillard and Tony Parker as NBA point guards he often watches. While the rest of his family gravitates to other sports, Sughnani feels most comfortable on a basketball court.
“First thing in our school, we saw basketball players older to us play,” he said. “That was really cool because they were still good and back then, I couldn’t even dribble the ball. So I just learned from them and played with the best.”
It was an all-round successful day for Our Own High School, Al Warqa’a as the school’s U16 and U14 teams both captured wins against New Indian Model School (NIMS).
The U14 squad first edged NIMS 27-25 in overtime, with Ainul Abid leading the way with a game-high 16 points. The U16 team followed up the thriller with a much more comfortable result in a 44-19 victory.
The other U14 game on the day was dominated by GEMS Modern Academy as they thoroughly beat Ambassador School Dubai 42-7. Vir Singh had 14 points, six assists, four rebounds and three steals, while team-mate Adheesh finished with nine points, seven rebounds, five assists and four steals.
Damian Fernandez was one of three players to score at least eight points for The Millennium School as his nine helped lift the U16 team to a 26-16 win against Regent International School.
“To know hard work does pay, it really feels good to be the player of the game and to support my team,” Fernandez said. “This will be a motivating factor for me in the rest of the games.”
