Lord Tiger, Yuan Shui face off in final
K UC H I NG : Defending champions Lord Tiger staged a late surge in the men’s semi-finals of the Kuching Open basketball championship on Tuesday night to see off Efos Kimbay 76- 59 and book their place in the final.
The unbeaten Tigers will take on Yuan Shui ( Saba) in the final after the latter disposed of Starry Sports 71- 55 in the other semi- final.
It was Efos Kimbay who started off strongly to lead 12- 9 but Lord Tiger responded well and capitalised on their penalty throws to lead 23-20 in the first quarter.
At end of second quarter, the Tigers were still in charge and led Efos by seven points.
The third quarter saw Efos Kimbay launching quick of fensives and managing to reduce the gap to only seven points, with the scoreline at 4350.
Lord Tiger then tightened their defence and scored from all sides of the court with their lightning attacks.
Captain Chai Chze Hian and import player Ong Jin Yong each scored 20 points to be the team’s top scorers while Chung Joon Kiong contributed 17 points for Lord Tiger’s 15-point victory.
Meanwhile, Yuan Shui’s import player from Sarawak Fire Horse Ma Chee Kheun had a good night, top scoring with 30 points to put his team in the final.
Ma and John Ng combined well to put Yuan Shui in the driver’s seat, leading Starry Sport 16-10 and 37-23 in the first and second quarters.
By end of third quarter, the team from Sungai Apong were 60- 39 ahead of their opponent.
In the final quarter, Starry Sports tried to reduce the points gap to 50- 64 by shooting from the outside.
However, Yuan Shui remained steadfast in their game to win by 16 points.
Lau Kok Chung contributed 13 points and import player Voon Yiew Ting had nine points for Yuan Shui while only Ezeilo Valentino Odera broke the double digit with 13 points and key player Tsok Kian Hong was a pale shade of himself as he only netted three points during the match.