Season Opener After 2 Years!

By Dominic Cheang 

February 6th and 13th, 2020 - The former was the last time the Dalat Varsity Basketball Team had a home game against an outside opponent and the latter was the last time the Dalat varsity basketball team had a game against another team. As we all know, the weeks following came with daily headlines of the then-unfamiliar COVID-19. Eventually culminating in the full lockdown of Malaysia, along with the rest of the world.

Basketball has always been a core part of the identity of Dalat, often being the sport that has the largest audience and largest group of players trying out.

Fast forward to November 17, 2022, and Dalat is finally hosting a home basketball game for its boys varsity team against the local PBA (Penang Ballers Association) team. The excitement and enthusiasm for the Basketball season was unparalleled throughout the campus. 

For a sense of scale of how important of a game this was, the class of 2023, the current seniors, were freshmen the last time there was a varsity basketball game. Not only that, this was the season opener, so it had to be good.

By the time the teams were warming up, the bleachers in Steinkamp Court were already packed with spectators anxiously waiting for the action to begin. The new speakers recently installed onto the walls of the court only amplified the excitement for the highly anticipated game. 

As the whistle blew and the players gathered with their respective teams to have a final briefing before starting the game, the audience quieted down a bit to allow the players to listen to their coaches. This was shortly followed by the classic “1! 2! 3! Eagles!” by the team captain Soo Wei Goh (12) and thunderous applause and cheers from the bleachers. 

The game itself was intense, with both teams giving their all on defense and offense. Team Captain Soo Wei Goh had several injury scares with his constant cramping. Post Player Luke Ng (12) racked up his stats with getting over 5 offensive rebounds in 3 seconds to finally score the basket. And Co-captain Noah Kaney (12) helped lighten the mood with his barking on offense.

The game ended with an euphoric 53-26 win for Dalat.

When asked about his opinions of the game, Mr. Issac Lee, assistant coach had some criticism but was happy with the overall results. “Since the last game played at Faith Academy back in February 2020, Dalat basketball is finally back. Stat wise, it wasn’t the best performance, but our season is very young. At least we got our first game out of the way, and we look to improve going forward."

Team Captain Soo Wei Goh and Co-captain Noah Kaney also have some words to share respectively. The team “demonstrated [their] effort and hustle as a team, and we’re looking forward to working hard and getting better before island shootout in December” (Noah Kaney, Co-Captain, ‘23). And “Last Thursday was a night to remember. It was the first basketball game in almost 3 years and we started off the season with a huge win. Proud of my boys, I’m looking forward to a great season ahead” (Soo Wei Goh, Team Captain, ‘23).

The season is still young and there is much more to look forward to for the rest of the season. This is only the beginning.