Yuan Thong Enterprise (YTE) switched gears in the last five minutes to run away with a 101-82 victory over I-Cyber in the 1st Brunei Basketball Association (BBA) League last night.

YTE led 75-65 heading into the final quarter but I-Cyber were unfazed and took it one possession at a time to cut the deficit at the BBA court in Batu Bersurat. I-Cyber managed to get to as close as four points, but with YTE leading 86-80 at the midway mark of the final quarter, they held their opponents to only one field goal to finish off the match at the BBA Court in Batu Bersurat.

YTE coach Alvin Goh was glad to pick up the win but felt there is still plenty of room for improvement. "The guys got a bit careless and stamina was a bit of an issue that allowed our opponents to get back in the game," said Goh in an interview with The Brunei Times after the triumph.

"I thought we played better than our previous matches. We are always off to slow starts and we will have to better that," he added. Lim Liang Wei had the hot hands for YTE to finish with a game-high of 31 points. Darren Chai added 18 points while Elwin Chong poured in 15.

Ching Wei Ming was the only other YTE cager in double figures with 12 points to his name in the victory. On the other hand, Tan Ye Wei led the way for I-Cyber with 19 points while Lim How chipped in 17 points.

Andric Koh notched 12 points while Han Yee Kwang contributed 10 points to a losing cause. The game was evenly matched in the early going with both teams locked at 21-21 at the end of the opening period.

Lim How got it going early in the first quarter to finish with 11 points to his name. I-Cyber were using their height advantage to score inside the paint. However, turnovers off the YTE defence were not helping their cause.

Han would nail a buzzer beater from an offensive rebound to bring I-Cyber to within 46-45 at the half. Neither team were able to break away until YTE attacked with speed and didn't allow their opponents to set.

It worked to perfection as they went on an 8-0 run to open up a 67-58 lead with under three minutes left in the third quarter. I-Cyber looked to regroup after a timeout but YTE would extend their lead to as many as 13 points.

Koh would score seven straight points for I-Cyber to help his team close to within 75-65 going into the final stanza. The second match saw Mochi-Each A Cup (MEAC) continue their unbeaten run in the League with a 70-57 victory over the winless DMC Enterprise.

The competition continues on Friday with two more matches. The six-team tournament tipped off on June 15, with Le Doux Patisserie and Syarikat Bukit Ladang making up the rest of the field.

The top-four will advance into the semi-finals of the competition whereby the crossover matchups will then be contested in a best-of-three series

Courtesy from Brunei Times