Stingers take sting out of NBT

Nick Garcia (L) of the Ilonggo Stingers skies for the rebound against Armando Estoesta (second from left) of NBT in the semi-final of the BBA Open Challenge Trophy last night at the Brunei Basketball Association court in Batu Bersurat. The Stingers beat favourites NBT 97-84. Picture: BT/Yee Chun Leong

Yee Chun Leong
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
Tuesday, April 13, 2010

THE Ilonggo Stingers staged a late comeback to upset favourites NBT
97-84 in the semi-finals of the Open Category of the BBA Open Challenge Trophy at the Brunei Basketball Association (BBA) court in Batu Bersurat last night.

The Stingers had four players in double figures with Reggie Malinao notching a game-high of 23 points while Cesar Asaldo contributed 22 points. Rio Oblido scored 20 points and Lowey Jee Palma chipped in 12 in the victory.

On the other hand, Geve Leones, Majomar Aying and Jeff Paraiso each had 21 points for NBT to a losing cause.

NBT carried a 69-60 advantage heading into the final stanza but seemed out of sync as they were forcing too many outside shots.

The Stingers, who have the size advantage, were playing smart basketball and setting on offence through their bigs of Oblido and
Malinao. They were dominating the boards and knocking down second
chance opportunities and finally grabbed the lead at 74-73 for the
first time when Asaldo fired a trey with more than five minutes to go.

The Stingers also stepped up at the defensive end resulting in NBT
committing turnovers leading to fastbreak points.

NBT never looked the side that would regain control of the match as the Belait side outscored their opponents 37-15 in the final period to complete the upset.

"We were down in the first half as they had the advantage in speed. Asaldo was the man of the match as the turning point came only in the fourth quarter when he knocked down two big three-pointers," said Palma, in an interview with The Brunei Times, after the triumph
last night.

"The momentum was with us and we picked up the  defence forcing them to take difficult shots and it turned out to be a great game for us in the end," added the captain. Read More...

Source: The Brunei Times