Cagers 3-on-3

Sempena Hari Asrama Terbuka The Malay College, the Cagers organize a 3-on-3 tournament for Collegians. Only one Cager can be in the team. Hopefully we can identified some hidden talents among the Collegians. More on this later.

Penang Trip May 09

Report from Mr. Liew in Penang. U-14 Cagers (including Syam, Iqbal, Danial, Apes, Luqman and Zul) vs Seberang Jaya won 37- 22. U-16 Cagers (Abang and all F4 n F5) vs Seberang Jaya won 69- 53. Syam, Apes and Nabil played well in the juniors' match. Tomorrow (Saturday) there'll be 3 separate matches with Chung Ling High School U-13, U-15 and U-16. Sunday 1 more game for the 'final 12' before leaving for MC.

Birthday Party

Cagers celebrated Chip's, Ammar's and Izzat's birthday this month. Sir bought them the birthday cake. Happy 16th guys.

MSSPk KK District 09

Cagers participated in another tournament, MSSPk KK District. They played against the defending champion, SM Shing Chung of Sg. Siput. Cagers lost badly. They shot terribly, making only 16 out of 77 shots! The bigger Shing Chung players successfully intimidated the Cagers.

Cagers rebounded by beating SM Tsung Wah in the second game 45 - 41, thus becoming KK Town Champion! Cagers struggled after a hectic week, started with the OBWeekend, Perak U16 and MSSPk. They played more than 10 games in a week. They will be playing their last game in MSSPk tomorrow against Tsung Wah Private.

Updates: Cagers won against Tsung Wah Private. The second team played well to win by more than 30 points. 4 Cagers were selected to represent KK District: Syai, Am, Ammar & Abang. However they have to decline the offer due to the coming mid year exam. They have to perform in their exam to ensure they will be in the team in the Finals.

They will be going to Penang for several friendlies and R&R next week, during the labour day weekend. Hopefully they can stay charged for the National Finals.

Perak U16 part 2

Cagers + 2 won their third game against Eric Sports of Taiping 69 - 59 in the Perak U16 tournament. They played well to contain the bigger opponents. They managed to hit 8 3-pointers in the game. The town folkes were surprised to see Cagers + 2 played so well.

The last group game was against HNL of Taiping. The Cagers couldn't overcame the size different and HNL used them effectively to control the board and pound the Cagers + 2 inside. The Cagers lost badly at the half, they fought back in the the third quarter to narrow the score to single digit. Cagers maintained the pressure tp unsettle HNL. They couldn't sustained the tempo and HNL hit 3 quick 3-pointers to subdue the Cagers. Cagers lost 47 - 69.

It was a good tournament for the Cagers. They were up against bigger opponents. They will be facing the same styled opponents in the Nationals later. The Cagers learnt to defend against bigger oponents. It will be useful in the Finals later.

Perak U16 tournament

10 Cagers plus 2 Tsung Wah players were selected to represent Kuala Kangsar District in the Perak U16 tournament in Taiping. Their first game was against Sungei Siput.

They started well by leading at the half. However, they couldn't kept the intensity in the second half and made too many passing mistakes. Sungei Siput continued pressuring KK team. KK lost 46 - 50. Next game against Taiping on Monday 5:30 pm.

OBW 2009

Cagers played a total of 4 games against the oldboys during the OBW. Cagers won all the games, overwhelming the oldboys with their speed and stamina. The oldboys tried using their size advantage but to no avail. It was a good experience for the Cagers to play against the bigger opponents. Q4G managed to raise RM3000 during the OBW. Thank you oldboys for buying the warmup shirts and the basketballs. See you all in Sri Putri!!

vs Kryptonyte; vs USJ 8

The Cagers played two more friendly games. Last night, 20th March, they played against Kryptonyte, arranged by Hadi at the USJ 1 Court.

Against Kryptonyte, the Cagers started of well, hitting their shots and managed to contain the bigger and older opponent. The Cagers continued to play well in the 2nd quarter to lead at the half. Kryptonyte began to use the height advantage and controlled the board. They managed to take the lead after the third quarter. The Cagers fought back and hit several 3-pointers and began to pull away. The Cagers won 42 - 36. It was a good experience for the Cagers. They will be meeting the similiar style teams in the Finals. The Cagers managed to keep the intensity through out the game.

The next morning 21st March, the Cagers played a game against the USJ 8 team. The game was arranged by Mr. Tong after he saw the Cagers practising at the USJ 1 court.

The Cagers started well against USJ 8. They defended superbly and only allowed USJ 8 to score 5 points while the Cagers scored 17 in the 1st quarter. USJ 8 tried to use their full court trapping defence against the Cagers to no avail. The Cagers broke the full court press at ease and scored several easy baskets. The Cagers started to look lethargic in the 2nd half, due to the late game against Kryptonyte last night. They began missing their shots but still managed to lead 36 - 23 at the half.

The Cagers managed to increase their lead after the third quarter 54 - 40. The Cagers struggled in the 4th quarter. USJ 8 began to fight back and closed in on the Cagers. The Cagers managed to hit several 3-pointers and kept the USJ 8 team at bay. The final score 62 - 55, the Cagers won their 2nd game. Overall, the Cagers played well. They managed to hit 5 3-pointers, especially during the critical time when USJ 8 began to narrow the score. The Cagers kept their cool despite looking so lethargic.

Cagers vs Kota Kemuning Boys/ISN visit

The Cagers played a game against Kota Kemuning boys yesterday. They started well and managed to lead at the half. They began losing steam at the second half and struggled to make their shots. They lost 41 - 56. Overall they played well, able to match the more experienced team.

This morning, YBhg Dato' Dr. Ramlan (Cager 77, the 1st Champ) invited the Cagers over to Institut Sukan Negara for a half day session. The Cagers were given talks on Sport Dieting and Psychology of winning by the ISN staff. They were also shown the better way to do their warm-ups. Besides the knowledge, the Cagers were also feted with delicious food (breakfast, tea-break and lunch). Thank you daun keladi, YBhg Dato'.

Cagers vs National U17 girls

Cagers just played an exciting match against the National U17 girls team at MABA this evening. Not surprisingly, even the girls are bigger, taller and fitter than the Cagers. The Cagers put up excellent defence but were done with the superb shooting by the Girls. They hit more than 10 3-pointers. They were overwhelmed in the 2nd quarter after holding on closely in the first. They trailed 16 - 32 at the half. The Cagers tightened up their defence and managed to counter attack the Girls trapping defence. They trailed 35-54 after the third quarter. The Cagers managed to make the score more respectable by outscoring the Girls in the fourth Quarter to lose 54 - 68.

It was a good experience for the Cagers to play against the National team. The Juniors managed to play an extra quarter against the Girls as well. They won 18 - 17.

The training will resume tomorrow morning at USJ 1 court.

The NORTHERN ZONE CHAMPIONSHIP

The Cagers won their 7^th consecutive PHT Northern Zone Championships in SMS Tun Syed Sheh Shahabuddin (SMSTSSS) Bukit Mertajam convincingly. This year Quest-4-Glory (Q4G) had to field ‘new’ team after 8 seniors graduated, leaving behind the juniors to fill in their big shoes. The Cagers 09 struggled to show their true talents, with the games being played with a 7 minutes non stop every quarter (a total of 28 minutes per game), the Cagers couldn’t capitalize on one of their strengths, stamina. It was really a short game, not more than 5 minutes of actual playing time, a total of 20 minutes per game.

The Cagers left Kuala Kangsar at 2:00 pm with 12 players (3 Form 5s, 6 Form 4s and 3 Form 3s) accompanied by Cikgu Rizal led by Cikgu Hisham plus the Debaters. They arrived safely in SMSTSSS at 4:00 pm. After unloading and settling down in the respective dorms, the Cagers went down for a light training and to feel the court.

Tuesday 10 Mac

8:00 am vs. SBPI Kubang Pasu

The Cagers’ struggled in the first quarter. Despite being better skilled than SBPIKP players, Cagers just couldn’t settle down and played their normal game. They managed to lead 8 – 3 at the end of 1^st quarter. The starters (Syai, Ammar, Am, Syafiq Ihsan & Mat Nor) struggled to establish their patterned plays. 2^nd quarter showed marked improvement as the cagers settled down and managed to stretch the lead to 23 – 7. The 2^nd team took over at the 2^nd half. They showed better composure than the first team. They extended the lead to 36 – 15 after the 3^rd quarter. The Cagers tightened their defence in the last quarter and took advantage of their better stamina to win the game 48 – 15. They managed to hit 4 3-pointers despite the 3-point line were as far as in NBA.

11:15 am vs SMS Sultan Md. Jiwa

The Cagers started well this time. The starters established a lead 11 – 2 at the end of 1^st quarter. However, the second team struggled when they took over in the 2^nd quarter. Nothing was falling in; luckily they managed to put up a strong defense. The score was 17 – 4 at the half. The second team recovered in the second half by scoring 12 points to lead 29 – 6 by the 3^rd quarter. They cruised in the last quarter and failed to keep the intensity to win by 33 - 8.

4:15 pm vs SMSultan Abd. Halim

The Cagers again struggled to establish themselves early in the game. The starters struggled to lead 10 – 6 at the end of 1^st quarter. In the 2^nd half, the starters began to dominate the game and held SMSAH scoreless to lead 26 – 6 at the half. The second team took over at the start of 2^nd half. Playing 3 games a day took its toll on the 2^nd team. Nothing was falling in, luckily they managed to put up a strong defense. The score was 28 – 10 after the 3^rd quarter. The second team continued to struggle in the last quarter but they managed to hold on the lead and won 32 – 14.

Wednesday 11 Mac

11:15 am vs. SBPI Gopeng

Cagers’ starters played well to lead 12 – 4 after the 1^st quarter. They tightened up their defense and capitalized the opponent’s inability to score to lead 31 – 9 at the half. The second team took over in the second half. They continued the excellent defense and kept SBPI scoreless in the second half. Cagers won 49 – 9. The Cagers showed marked improvement in their performance. They managed to hit 2 3-pointers in the game.

4:15 pm vs. STAR

Both teams were undefeated, the winner would be the group champion. Cagers’ starters started well by frustrating the STAR players through their excellent defence. Cagers led 14 – 6 at the the of 1^st quarter. The second five took over in the 2^nd quarter and continued the excellent defence and held STAR scoreless to 22 – 6 at the half. The second team failed to keep the intensity during the 3^rd quarter but they still managed to lead 27 – 12 at the end of 3^rd quarter. They recovered in the last quarter and again held STAR scoreless to win 40 – 12. The Cagers hit 7 3-pointers in the game. The inconsistency of the second team is a bit worrying. They need more game exposure and experience to maintain the intensity in the game.

Thursday 12 Mac

8:00 am Semifinal vs. SMSTSPutra

The Cagers started well this time by pressuring the SMSTSP players into making mistakes after mistakes. They led 10 – 3 after the 1^st quarter. The second team took over and continued the pressure. They managed to increase4 the lead to 24 – 9 at the half. The second team held SMSTSP scoreless in the the 3^rd quarter to 34 – 9. They continued their excellent play to win 46 – 14. The Cagers managed to hit only 1 3-pointer.

10:45 am Final vs. STAR

STAR made it to the final after beating SMSTSSS 16 - 14 in the other semifinal. It was a very close game all the way. Playing 7 minutes non-stop benefitted STAR players. They didn’t have the stamina to last the proper 10 minutes per quarter game.

The final game was played in a subdued atmosphere. STAR couldn’t field their main players after the tough semifinal The Cagers played in a relaxed manner while keeping the opponent at bay by playing excellent defense. Cagers led 11 – 2 in the 1^st quarter. The second team took over from the 2^nd quarter. They struggled to score but still managed to keep the lead 18 – 4 at the half. In the second half, the second team continued to cruise to extended the lead 21 – 8 after the 3^rd quarter. They slowed down in the last quarter but still managed to extend the lead. Cagers won 27 – 10. Playing the game at noon affected both teams, STAR being the worst. The Cagers struggled to maintain their intensity in the scorching sun.

Conclusion

Overall, the Cagers played well in patches during the tournament. Skill and stamina wise, they were on a different league compared to other teams. Their lacked of game experience and it showed during the first day. They showed apparent nervousness against lowly opponents. They regain their composure and played better during the next day. They couldn’t afford to be nervous in the Nationals later. We are planning some motivation session with ISN later, before the finals.

North Zone Schedule 2009

The Cagers will be defending their Piala Hamdan Tahir North Zone Championship at SMSTSSShahabudin, Bukit Mertajam from 10th - 12th March 2009. They will be going for their seventh-in-a-row.

The schedule as below:

10.3.09
8.00 am Cagers vs SBPI Kubang Pasu.
2.45 pm Cagers vs SMSM.Jiwa.

11.3.09
8.45 am Cagers vs SMSAH.
12.30 pm Cagers vs SBPIGopeng.
4.15 pm Cagers vs STAR.

12.3.09
8.00 am S/Final I:
8.45 am S/Final II:
9.30 am FINAL :

Hope to see some of you there.

MC-RMC Game

The Cagers won against RMC 55 - 23 during the MC-RMC weekend. Mr. Liew used all the players except for Form 2s. The first team played for a quarter then the juniors took over. The Form 3s played well and managed to outscore RMC. However, the Cagers didn't play up to their standard. They were sluggish and failed to play as a team. There were a lot of confusion as Mr. Liew told them to play 2-1-2 full court. They kept going back for defence after scoring.

The Cagers need to play to instructions if they are going to defend the title. Coming next will be the Northern Zone on 9 - 12th March at SMSTSSS, bukit Mertajam.

Coming attractions

The Cagers coming activities

1. MC:RMC Weekend : 27 Feb - 1 March in Kuala Kangsar
   
2. Northern Zone regional : 9 - 12 March at SMSTSSShahabuddin, Bukit Mertajam, P.Pinang

The basketball game will be at 5;00 pm Saturday 28th Feb. The Cagers are in the midst of preparing for the Northern Zone regional. They will be going for their seventh in a row.

PETRONAS 3 ON 3 GRAND FINALS 2009

The Cagers sent two teams for PETRONAS 3 ON 3 GRAND FINALS 2009, representing the North Zone. They were grouped together with the States U18 champions. As a result, they were overwhelmed by the older and bigger opponents. Cagers second team consist of U16 players. They lost all their games!!

Hopefully with that, it would end all distractions and the Cagers can start to concentrate on defending their Championship and bring home the sixth consecutive and 14th overall.

Point Guards

The Cagers' point guards were discussing on the court during the game against SMSTMFP. We tried out a new point guard/forward during the CNY friendly games and he performed well with the new responsibilities. Currently Cagers are lacking point guard since Roro quit to concentrate on himself. Hopefully the back ups, Zaki and Hisyam, will rise up to the challenge.

Cagers 09 CNY Camp

The Cagers were in Kota Bharu, Kelantan for their annual CNY Training Camp. This year we chose KB to scout our East Coast opponents. We managed to convince SMSTMFPutra to host the Cagers, SESMA of KTerengganu and SMSDungun. It was a sort of a mini tournament. Thank you to the SMSTMFP HM, PK Koku, Guru Penasihat for the hospitality.

The Cagers played 5 friendly games, they managed to win 3 games and lost 2. They won against SMSDungun (52-21), SESMA, SMSTMFPutra (35-25). They lost the rematch to SMSTMFPutra by a point (31-32) and to the Kelantan Youth team (63-73). It was a good exposure and experience for them. It was a second loss to a SBP team in Q-4-G project.

The Cagers also took the opportunity to visit Bandar Kota Bharu and the PCB. They didn't appreciate the scenic Pasar Siti Khadijah but prefer to go to to KB Mall, instead.

Q4G would like to take this opportunity to thank MCOBA Kelantan for the being the excellent host (especially Wan Zul @ One Tanah Merah and his committee). The Dinner at Yati was wonderful, most of the Cagers had double rations ;-). Some of them tak pernah makan budu managed to get a taste. Also thank you to Sdr. Bustamin V73 for inviting the Cagers to the Majlis kesyukuran.

Thank you all for the support. We shall be back ;-)

SBP-MABA+Petronas 3-on-3 North Zone Tournament

The Cagers 09 won their second Championships over the weekend. They won the North Zone SBP-MABA+Petronas 3-on-3. We sent 4 teams as requested. Two teams went to the final. The 3rd team lost in the 3-4th placing while the fourth team lost in the Quarter finals.

The Champions and runners up will represent the North Zone to the NAtional Finals. The winner will represent Malaysia to the Asean Championship in Singapore. The dates for the tournamnets belum confirm lagi.

Meanwhile, the Cagers will be going to Kelantan, SMSTMF Petra, for a training camp/friendlies games. SMS Dungun plus the Host will be playing several games against the Cagers. Hopefully the Cagers will gain valuable game experience.

Cagers 09 & 3-on-3 tourney

The Cagers 09

The Cagers will participate in the Petronas-MABA-SBP 3-on-3 this weekend at SMS Teluk Intan. We will send 4 teams as requested. Mr. Liew is preparing them for the tournament. They have to adjust their style of play and hopefully they can adapt to the 3-on-3 style. Best of luck.

The Cagers' year end camp

The Cagers trained inside the Gym when it rained.

Listening to the Coach

In front of Prep School at 6:45 am. Getting ready to go to the Big School Court.

The Cagers going thru their dribbling session. They have to sharpen up their dribbling skills to overcome their lack of heights. Hope fully they will be able to dribble their way out of trouble.

The Sifu is watching closely on the Cagers' drill.

Cagers 09 December training camp

It has been a while since I update this blog. I was away on spiritual mission (Haj) for the last 2 months. A lot has happened to the Cagers; 1) The Juniors managed to retained the MCKK U-15 Invitation (Tun Haniff Trophy) championship, 2) Clobbered by the Cameron Highland District teams and 3) Clobbered again by a team from Singapore. All these clobbering reminded me of 2007 team. 2007 Cagers was clobbered, slaughtered to be precise, by a team from Penang in the Jawi U-16 tournament. That happened while they were adjusting to life without the 06 Cagers. They rebounded well from the experience by becoming the first Q4G team to record a century (103) in the Final PHT game. Hopefully the 2009 team will create their own record.

The December camp is important to the 2009 Cagers. We are building a brand new team, a different team from our previous teams. The game plan will take advantage of their main strengths, speed and stamina. They have to outrun their opponents. The Cagers 2009 have the personnel to do it.

will be reporting, hopefully daily, during the camp.

The new logo for the Cagers

The new logo for the Cagers. Any suggestions??

Quest-4-Glory 2003 - 2008

Alhamdulillah, it has been a successful five years since we started our Quest-4-Glory project in August 2003. We started without any knowledge of the basketball level of PHT and with only semifinal being the target for the first year. The Cagers have never failed to qualify to the National semifinal until 1995. The following years, the Cagers struggled to maintain their excellent records and even didn't qualify to the National level.

Cagers 2004 proved they had the ability, big hearts and will power to become the Champion again, in which they did albeit luckily by 3 points. It was tough for them, initially, to adjust to the tough physical training done by the coach. It was well worth it when they outran and outlasted all their opponents and laid down the standards for the future Cagers to follow.

Cagers 2005 were given all the exposure needed by playing games in Penang, Cameron Highlands and Sitiawan. They proved their ability by winning to win the KK Open, Sg Siput Open and the PHT. In the PHT, they proved their superiority by winning most of the games handily.

Cagers 2006 were not as well exposed as the Cagers 2005, however, they had Alep as the Captain. Alep, with his Agong's Cup experience, led the way with the support from Qassim, Hazwan and Nash to create a new record of the biggest winning margin in the final; 44 points (smashing the 1981 record!).

Cagers 2007 didn't have any superstar among them but as a team they were unstoppable. The opponent tried to stop one or two players but the plan backfired as other players took over. As a result, Cagers 2007 created a record of having scored 103 points in the final game (the most in a final game). They showed they were in different league than the teams in PHT finals.

Cagers 2008 is Quest-4-Glory's first fully trained team from Form One. They were exposed early in the proper basics of basketball. Thus this is the best team we had in Quest-4-Glory. However, three main players were injured before the tournament and it affected the team build-up. We had to restructure the team to accommodate the injuries. The injured players managed to recover and play during the tournament but their fitness and teamwork were affected. The team played to only 70% of their abilities but they still managed to win by more than 20 points average. They won our fifth Piala Hamdan Tahir championships in a row and 13th overall.

One worrying trend from all the successes of the Cagers in PHT. Other schools were getting exasperated by being overwhelmed by the Cagers thus they resorted to more physical and rough plays to intimidate and disturb the Cagers. The future Cagers has to be trained to control their emotions on the court and concentrate on their games. Other schools began to follow Quest-4-Glory. The respective alumni associations began getting involved in preparing their school teams to challenge the Cagers' supremacy. The future challenge will be tougher for the Cagers to maintain their position.

With the 5-in-a-row championships, Quest-4-Glory has come to the end. It has been a wonderful journey, eventhough it was rough in the early years. The support from the oldboys, especially the old cagers, has been tremendous. The back up and support from MCOBA came at the right moment helping us diffused the tense situations faced with College in the early years. Thank you YM Pak Engku, YBhg. TS Mac and JakLi for your continuous support The PIBG supported our programs for the juniors. We would like to take this opportunity to thank EVERYBODY who has given their supports; financially, morally etc. You all make the journey bearable and the experience priceless. THANK YOU

Quest - 4 - Glory team

Riza Beg v 76 - President

Mr. Liew Yong Choon 74 - 93; 03 - current - Coach

Jimmy v 91 - team manager

ise v 80 - Coordinator

Taiping U14 Invitation - Junior Cagers

The Junior Cagers - Form 2 (Vanguards) were invited to play in the Taiping U14 tournament. They managed to play 4 games in the round robin and qualified for the third - fourth placing, to be played next Saturday 9 August at 7.00 pm Padang Assam Court, Taiping. It was their maiden tournament and they did well eventhough they just started playing basketball for about 18 months ago. They stand a good chance to come in third if the players are all healthy.

The Junior Cagers - Vanguard 0711

vs HNL A

vs a Taiping team

Spritzer Cup 2008

The Malay College & Q4G sent two teams to compete in the Spritzer Cup (Non Chinese Basketball tournament), Cagers Black and Cagers White. Cagers Black represented by the Old Cagers plus Form 4s and the Cagers White by the Juniors.

Cagers White lost both of their games to the defending champion and UTPetronas. They were overwhelmed by the bigger and experienced players from the defending champion team. They did managed to give a good fight to the UTPetronas team by leading till the third quarter. UTP used their sizes and experienced well to overwhelm the young Cagers White. Ayub 05 played as the point guard for UTPetronas.

Cagers Black won their first game against Anderson but lost their second game against team Eastern. They were overwhelmed by the bigger and experienced opponents.

It was a good outing for the Cagers to gain some playing experience eventhough they managed to play only 2 games.

The Cagers White (Juniors)

Cagers White vs UTPetronas

Cagers Black (4 Old Cagers/2 Form 5s, 2 Form 4s & 2 Form 3s)

Cagers Black vs Eastern

The New Practice Cones

The newly acquired cones for the Cagers to practice their dribbling skills.

Going around the cones

This practice will benefit the juniors in honing the dribbling skills. In view of their lack in size, they need to run rings around the bigger opponents ;-)

The Form 1s watching their seniors going thru the drills.

The Cagers U14 will be playing in their first tournament. They were specially invited to play in Taiping U14 tournament. Pengetua had given his consent for the F2 Cagers to participate in Taiping U-14 Open. They will play on 25, 26 n 27 Jul, 3 matches in a row starting either at 6.00 pm or 8.00 pm.

The Cagers 09 will also participate in the Spritzer Cup. We are planning to send two teams for exposure. The first team will comprise the Form 4s and Form 2s, while the second team will comprise of Form 3s and Form 2s.

The Cagers 08

The Cager 04-08, with their trophies.

The 08 Capt Mokri and 08 Cagers' Club President Syahmi

Cagers 08 Capt handing over the PHT to Cagers 09 Capt, Syai

What happened to 2007 & 2008 ;-), the unprecendented 5-in-a-row, 13th overall.