Singapore claim historic Fiba 3X3 Asia Cup win and secure quarter-final qualification

SINGAPORE – At 1.94m, Ng Shi Yu appears made for rebounds and blocks, and is not usually the go-to man for shots beyond the arc.

Perhaps that was why he had a relatively open look during overtime in Singapore’s Fiba 3X3 Asia Cup Pool A match against Chinese Taipei on Saturday.

But in front of a capacity crowd of more than 700 spectators at the OCBC Square, Ng, 22, had no hesitation after receiving a pass from Branson Tan on the left, as he shot over the covering Pu Kuo-lun to seal a dramatic and historic 22-20 win.

This is the Republic’s maiden win in the competition and was also enough to send them through to the quarter-finals for the first time as one of the top two teams in their group, after Mongolia had edged out the Taiwanese 21-19 earlier.

Singapore went on to finish as Pool A runners-up after losing 22-9 to 2017 champions Mongolia, and will take on powerhouses China in the last eight on Sunday.

In 3X3, every made basket inside the arc is worth one point, and every successful shot behind the arc is worth two. The first team to score 21 points, or the side with more points at the end of the single 10-minute period, win.

If the teams are tied at the end of regulation, they go into overtime, and the first team to score two points are victorious.

Despite not having won a game at this level before – Singapore did not qualify for the first four editions before featuring after securing hosting rights from 2022 – the hosts were quick out of the blocks.

While they passed and moved fast, and were aggressive, it was clear their strategy for their opening game was to shoot from range.

Thng Yong An, whose 10 points all came from two-pointers, provided three early buckets to help Singapore race to an early 10-5 lead inside the first four minutes, even though they were already in foul trouble then with six team fouls, and any team foul after that would result in two free throws for the opponents.

Despite needing to be careful with the foul situation, Singapore extended their lead to 19-11 with a little over two minutes to go, only to go cold with their ball handling and allow the visitors to roar back with seven unanswered points.

Ng, who also collected 10 boards, made a lay-up off a clever pass from Tan with 25sec left but could not prevent Chun Chiang from scoring twice to force overtime.

Both teams went straight for the kill with two-point attempts. Chinese Taipei missed all four tries before Ng, with only his second attempt in the entire game, nailed the winner.