Halim Tours End Maya Silk’s Unbeaten Run
By James Kon

Bandar Seri Begawan - The captain of Halim Tours & Travel Sdn Bhd, No. 9 Chong Kam Long was the hero for his team when he sank in a two-pointer with only 10 seconds left on the clock to push his team past Maya Silk Demolition 79-77 in the Sultan's Birthday Cup quarterfinal round at Chung Hwa Middle School on Sunday evening.

Maya Silk coach Jacob M Pacheco's strategy of deploying the motion defence on his opponents backfired when his players had to play cautiously so as not to be ejected because of the maximum number of fouls rule.

The explosive game started with Maya Silk Demolition taking the lead at 27-19 thanks to an impressive performance by No. 11 Jayvee Leones who managed to score 10 points in 10 minutes. It was a dramatic change of tide in the second quarter for Halim Tours & Travel Sdn Bhd after they introduced No.6 Teo Hong Kiong.

Teo came out of the bench to sink two 3 pointers and another four points inside the box to slice Maya Silk lead to 45-41 at the end of the second quarter.

Carrying on the comeback momentum, Halim Tours' No. 14 Han Yee Kwong was outstanding in the third quarter with his height advantage and positioning under the basket.

Han aided Halim Tours in offensive and defensive rebounding and by the end of the third quarter Halim Tours managed to cut Maya Silk lead to just one point at 60-59.

Maya Silk's unbeaten run in the tournament was in jeopardy when four of its first team players were in danger of being ejected after having committed four fouls each.

They were playing very cautiously on their defensive zone paving the way for Halim Tours to move up on the offensive side.

Halim Tours' Han took advantage of the situation and managed to put his team in the lead for the first time in the middle of the fourth quarter at 61-59. Halim Tours' timeout strategy with 20 seconds left on the clock worked perfectly for them when the score was at 77-77.

After the timeout, Han was tightly marked by three players leaving captain Kam Long free for the crucial shot and he sank it confidently into the basket to make the final score 79-77.

After the game, Kam Long said that their strategy worked when Maya Silk started to pay more attention on Han, leaving him the space to shoot the winning basket.

In another game, Coca-Cola Panthers continued their undefeated run in the tournament by easily crushing Linktech 117-83. No. 8 W. Ybanez of Coca-Cola Panthers had a massive game when he managed to score 35 points for his team.

Meanwhile in the ladies category, Sprite ice emerged the champions with a perfect record after they disposed Agogo 54-44. Agogo grabbed the second spot while CHMS were third after beating GHK 46-25.

Today, Maya Silk will take on Linktech while Coca Cola Panthers will meet Halim Tours and Travel. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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