Queenielin end rivals' Hope

Yee Chun Leong

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

Monday, July 6, 2009

QUEENIELIN/SOFTLAB were crowned the champions of the 111th Philippine Independence Basketball Cup after defeating Hope 118-90 in the final yesterday at the Brunei Basketball Association court in Batu Bersurat.

Contrary to yesterday's report in The Brunei Times, Hope defeated Darul Trustee Remittance Landbank 96-88 to reach the final and not Archmedia/B-Mobile as mentioned.

Both teams began brightly yesterday but Queenielin/Softlab soon started out with their 1-3-1 full court pressure defence and managed to take the edge to end the first period on an 11-4 run to lead 25-19.

In the second quarter, both teams tried to battle for the lead but Queenielin/Softlab stood their ground and kept their lead at 48-41 to take it into the break.

There was a change of pace when the teams came out after halftime as both came out storming but Queenielin/Softlab soon took control of the quarter led by Lhito Porlahe with 10 straight points off the bench to outscore their opponents 35-26 to further extend their lead to 83-67 at the end of the period.

The fourth quarter was no different as Hope began to tire while Queenielin/Softlab ran amok with Aries Castro and Mark Porlahe setting up a shooting clinic. Queenielin/Softlab quickly ran away with the match.

"The best thing about today's (Sunday's) game was that everyone gave it their all and supported each other in search of a win," said Lhito, the coach-cum-player of Queenielin/Softlab.

"We want to be able to do the same thing next year but now we would like to try to win the Ambassador's Cup," added Lhito, who also bagged the Best Coach award.

Asked what's next on the team's schedule, Lhito said: "We are all busy preparing for the upcoming Sultan Cup to be held in a few weeks' time."

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Courtesy of The Brunei Times