Having lost two straight games before the playoffs begins, Photons snapped streak in the first round by a 33-30 victory against V’s, who lost for the first time after they took big wins in the past two games.

Photons guard Cherry Tsui hit the game’s first goal, a three-pointer, before she missed all ten attempts afterwards. After he missed two field goals and also two free throws, Anson Cha made two baskets before Harris Wong made two free throws that ended the first period with a 9-6 lead for Photons.

Ivan Shiu made another basket under the rim, followed by Harris Wong’s foul shot put the game to 12-6 before Nelson Ho, the league’s leading three-point shooter, made a long jumper and cut the lead to three only. Photons lead 14-11 at half-time.

Photons centre Simon Ho started the second half with two points Harris Wong had two as Photons lead 18-13. Jerry Tang scored two points and Anson Cha made layups in two straight possessions and took a 19-18 lead for V’s as Photons called a time-out.

Harris Wong and Sonnel Pun combined for three foul shots and kept a two-point lead entering the final period.

Harris Wong scored again to extend the lead to four but Alan Chan answered by two followed by Anson’s free throw to cut the deficit to one. Ivan Shiu score the next five points for Photons but could not get away further than four.

Anson Cha score four points for V’s as they were still down by two with less than 30 seconds left. Ivan Shiu was fouled before he missed both free throws but Photons get the offensive rebound and Ivan Shiu was fouled again as the time expired. He split the final pair of foul shots. He had 14 points and was one-rebound shy of a double-double.

Anson Cha filled the box score by a personal best 17 points, six rebounds, five steals and one assist. He shoot 47.1% from the floor but missed seven of eight attempts at the charity strip. Crazy Ng had 12 rebounds and added four points. Chris Tang played through the flu, added one point and six rebound.

Harris Wong had 13 points, grabbed 11 boards while dished twice. Simon Ho had nine rebounds for Photons, with six on the offensive end.

Cherry Tsui faced a 30-cm disadvantage a few times in the first half when she has to guard Chris Tang, one of the tallest player in the league with 187cm.

V’s was 0-4 when they scored 30 or less points.