Twisters, Brothers claim first wins in Shell Basketball
By Benny Ang

Suncity Dragons (in blue) on the attack against GHK Construction
at the Shell Rimula Invitational Basketball tourney Yesterday. The Dragons won 131-92

Bandar Seri Begawan - The first Sunday of the 3rd Shell Rimula Ultra Invitational Challenge Trophy Basketball Tournament 2003 could hardly have been more exciting as two of the three matches went down to the final two minutes before two sides went on to claim their first wins of the tournament.

First it was the Chuon Tze Twisters who registered their first win with a hard-fought win over Komala One Stop LSL before the Goh Brothers Goldsmiths also secured their first win with a 93-89 victory over Chop Eng Seng Keo L.Mark Lakers in an almighty tussle for both sides.

In the second match of the afternoon, the Chuon Tze Twisters were able to stave off a determined Komala One Stop LSL side winning 85-79 after an intense battle on the hardcourt. The match could hardly have been closer as Komala used their twin tower duo of Ben Trebilcock and Keith Krause to good effect at first, the duo just arriving from Australia in time for their opening game.

Trebilcock was the key man inside for his side with 18 points and 15 rebounds and his inside presence will be a major factor for Komala if they intend to qualify for the semifinals. In addition, Komala also had another American import Greg Lockhart, who led all scorers with 24 points in the game and came close to single-handedly masterminding a major comeback.

But the feisty Twisters were able to hang on just barely after it looked midway through the fourth quarter as though they were about to race away. They had opened up a 12 point lead but suddenly looked a nervous side as their shots failed to drop while Lockhart found his range from long distance.

The match was close throughout which led to a slender two-point lead for the Twisters at half-time but it was the side from Taiwan that came out firing on all cylinders in the third quarter, slowly establishing a commanding lead with some sharp-shooting.

In particular it was Cheng Yu-Jen who sparked his side into life with some fearless driving, eventually finishing as top scorer with 22 points. He was ably supported by Huang Ho Cheng with 17, Chiu Te-Chih with 17 and a Filipino collegiate player with 15 points and 11 rebounds.

After a close finish, it was Chuori Tze who managed to hang on to notch their first victory of the tournament while Komala will look to rebound tonight against defending champions Suncity Dragons.

The Dragons have moved on to two wins after a routine 131-92 demolition of GKT Construction in the first match yesterday and will have to be weary of the dangerous Komala side despite their disappointing loss.

Suncity were paced by six players in double digits with Australian Luke Egan leading the way with 30 points and Mark Hobson Jr supporting with 26 points. GKT were paced by the Brunei-based American Hamzah Al Jihad who scored an amazing 51 points but received little help elsewhere.

The final match of the afternoon was the closest and most exciting match of the tournament so far with the Gob Brothers Goldsmiths and Chop Eng Seng Keo L.Mark Lakers going toe to toe with each other.

It looked as though Goh Brothers had wrapped up the victory earlier as they built up a ten-point lead midway through the third quarter but the Lakers, with the experienced Bobby Parks leading the way, clawed their way back to level terms with just two minutes remaining.

To the end, it came down to a three-pointer with 20 seconds remaining on the clock front American Corey Brown to decide matters with his side two points down, Brown, who struggled mightily in the first match against SYH Tigers the previous night came good when the chips were down to secure the first victory for the Goldsmiths. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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