KUCHING: SM Sains Kuching made a clean sweep of the boys and girls titles at the Residential Schools Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan Zone Basketball Championships that ended at the school’s basketball court on Friday.
CLASSIC CHAMPIONS: SM Sains Kuching boys team with Salbiah (standing third right), Chan (third left), the teachers and coaches. — Photo courtesy of SM Sains Kuching
By winning in both categories, they earned the right to represent Malaysia Borneo at the National Residential Schools Basketball Championship in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan in May.
The boys were simply in a league of their own as they won all four league matches, with two of them surpassing the century mark.
In their opening match against Labuan on Wednesday, the SM Sains Kuching boys trounced SM Sains Labuan 100-34.
They continued their winning form by beating SM Sains Lahad Datu 91-27 in the second match, followed by an impressive 70-35 win over SM Sains Miri.
The boys ended their campaign on a winning note when they whipped SM Sains Sabah 117-37 in the final game on Thursday.
SM Sains Kuching girls team were equally impressive as their boys counterparts when they remained unbeaten in the league competition.
They started off with a whipping of SM Sains Sabah 47-4, followed by beating SM Sains Labuan 42-17, SM Sains Lahad Datu 42-14 and finally defeating SM Sains Miri 40-16.
SM Sains Kuching won more honours when their players received the Most Valuable Player/Top Scorer award, with Riduan Sofi top scoring with 86 points and Eileen Liaw scoring 64 points in the whole championship.
Meanwhile, SM Sains Kuching principal Salbiah Seman was ecstatic over the success of the school teams.
“We have not only retained the boys title and this year but our girls have also done extremely well by becoming the champions. This is a very good improvement for us,” she noted. For the record, SM Sains Kuching girls were fourth in 2009 and third last year.
“No other team has what we have — a representation of many races, religions, and economic backgrounds. Everyone is equal, and they work equally hard together.”