AKK Design bully IMD B

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

Friday, October 30, 2009

AKK DESIGN kicked off their campaign in the 45 years old and above category of the LBC Cup by demolishing IMD B 80-54 at the Brunei Basketball Association court in Batu Bersurat last night.
Jojo Apat had a game-high 35 points for AKK Design and Rogel Diaz poured in 14 points.
An AKK player (yellow) was double-teamed inside the paint by two IMD B players (white).

On the other hand, IMD B were led by Ronnie Ramos with 18 points and Andy Pasion with 16 points.

Both teams started out slow from the field but AKK Design, made up of players below the age of 45 years old, upped the tempo towards the end of the first period to take an 18-8 advantage into the second quarter.

AKK Design were relentless on defence not giving their older opponents any chance by applying full court pressure.

IMD B had difficulty bringing the ball up the halfway line. This led to turnovers as AKK Design punished them on fastbreaks.
AKK Design were in the driving seat leading 39-18 heading into halftime.

IMD B began to slow down in the third period while AKK Design never let their guard down to run away with victory.

AKK Design were meant to be in the regular seven stars category but due to late entry could only participate as a guest team.

"There were no more opening slots in the seven stars category because they handed in their registration late. So we could only put them in the 45 years old and above category as a guest team," explained Mhar Porlahe, the president of the Filipino Basketball Association.

Despite being a guest team, Romel Galano, captain of AKK Design, was delighted with the result.

"Our aim is to win the game eventhough we're in this category. It feels great to be able to win our first game despite having some new players in the team," said Galano.

Galano pointed out that they were also taking the games as preparations for future tournaments. "What we actually want to do is to build our stamina and try out our set plays," explained Galano.

In the second match of the night, Palm Cafe came up on top 88-73 against Pinoy 1st Edition in Group A of the seven stars category.
Geve Leones topscored for Palm Cafe with 20 points while Marcelino Magaan scored 18 points for Pinoy 1st Edition. 
The competition continues tomorrow when the all-Malay Liga Bumiputera take on Beaver Engineering in Group B at 7pm. One of the favourites, ABMS, will go up against El Tigre Marshalls at 8.30pm.

Source: The Brunei Times | photo: BruneiBasketball.com