Eusoff Hall ended Sheares Hall’s reign as Inter-Hall Games basketball champions in a highly competitive match, in which both halls went for the jugular with continued waves of attacking play.

Eusoff were able to exact revenge for their loss in the preliminary round of this year’s IHG, which saw them lose to Sheares by a narrow margin of four points.

The Sports and Recreation Centre Multi-purpose Hall 5 was a sea of Sheares supporters in bright orange on one side, while the Eusoff supporters resembled bumblebees with their yellow and black ensemble on the other side. 

On court, it was Eusoff that gained the advantage with a blistering start, scoring the first two points within seconds. Eusoff then went on to dominate the first quarter,which ended 10-4.

In the second quarter, Eusoff pressed on and sunk in a few three-pointers enabling them to gain a significant lead. Eusoff’s watertight defensive play also helped deny the Sheares attack several times.

However, the frantic pace of the match caused some tempers to flare at several points, as the tension got to the players. Several fouls were committed and a small scuffle broke out in the fourth minute of the third quarter.

Sheares squandered several chances to come back into the game and failed to convert. They only rallied towards the end, but the final score rested at 38-31.

The inability to convert those chances was due to nervousness and inexperience, according to Kai Wen, team captain for Sheares.

He said that Sheares “lost due to inexperience and this was shown in the bad decisions the team made in crucial moments of the game.”

However, Kai Wen, a fourth-year business student emphasised that his team were able to match Eusoff in “other aspects and would come back better next year.”

For the winning side, it was their teamwork and desire to end their three-year-long title drought that spurred them on.

As Eusoff team captain Jia Kai explained, Eusoff “fought as a team, not just five of us on the court.” 

The first-year real estate major also stressed the role of the supporters, who he said have been “supporting the team since the first game.”

In the women’s basketball final, Temasek Hall beat Eusoff Hall 50-34 to claim the women’s basketball title.