I-CYBER left it till late to defeat DMC Enterprise 72-70 in the 1st Brunei Basketball Association (BBA) League last night.

Lim How scored a game-high 29 points to pace I-Cyber with teammates Goh Kheng Jih and Shim Jan Ting chipping in with 16 and 11 points respectively. Liew Chee Hau and Ang Lu Kwang scored 14 points each for DMC Enterprise in the loss.

DMC Enterprise started out the better of the two teams, running the floor well to open up a 16-12 lead heading into the second quarter. I-Cyber were utilising the size of big men Goh, Han Yee Kwang and Shim to score on offence.

Their height advantage also saw them control the boards in the second quarter with Lim scoring 11 points to put I-Cyber ahead 26-24 going into the third period. DMC Enterprise picked up their defence and executed their offence well in the third quarter, but they remained down 47-41 going into the final stanza.

I-Cyber shot poorly from the field and trailed midway through the quarter as DMC Enterprise were playing better with their quick passes. I-Cyber were trailing 66-68 with only two minutes left to play, but Han would find the basket to keep his team in the game and Goh would convert his free throws to give I-Cyber their second win in the tournament.

Despite the win, I-Cyber's coach Tong Tek Seng was not happy with the way his team performed. "We had a very bad game today. Our defence was very poor," said Tong in an interview with The Brunei Times after the match.

"Our big men did not perform to their standard and we let our opponents score easily throughout the game. "However, I am still happy that we won despite playing a very bad game but the win just now was not convincing.

"We played quite well in the past few games, but I don't know what happened tonight. We must move on and focus on our next game," he said. "We will play Yuan Thong Enterprise in the next game and we must improve our defence," he added.

The competition continues tomorrow with two matches starting at 7pm.

Courtesy from Brunei Times