On Nov 1st, 2014, NYU Shanghai and Yale-NUS College came together at Shanghai’s ECNU gymnasium for their first basketball game.
The game was off to a good start with Branden Taylor landing the first three-pointer, and keeping consistent throughout the first half. Justin Tzeng and Ian Soder also made hefty contributions to the score. Demonstrating tight teamwork, NYU Shanghai led the score for the first quarter, but Yale-NUS brought the first half to a tie at 36:36.
NYU Shanghai students presented a brilliant halftime show featuring choreographed dances and an acapella performance that lightened the mood and left the audience in a fit of applause.
The second half was a volley of ongoing ties, with Yale-NUS dominating with continuous shots and unstoppably driving the lane. The game intensified as both sides were visibly exhausted. It was a close score, but NYU Shanghai lost by only 2 points. That didn’t temper the crowd from chanting and cheering “NYU” to support their team in the end.
More important than the final score, however, was the experience of both teams gaining a sense of teamwork, camaraderie, and a driving need to continue improving. NYU Shanghai and Yale-NUS College may have come together as opponents but they parted ways as friends.
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