Reece's cagers in their 1st final

Jason Thomas

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Kevin Reece (pic) believes the time has come.
After being frustrated in their previous two tournaments, the national team's coach has finally guided his boys to their first final.

Playing under the guise of Soon Lee-Easyway 'A', they beat defending champions Dodge 91-85 last night to book their ticket into tonight's Goh Hock Kee Cup 2010 championship match.

With a mountain of expectation forced on the team's shoulders ever since they were banded, they can go a long way to relieve that weight if they triumph against Hata Rekajaya Sdn Bhd at 8.15pm today.

Hata Rekajaya edged Soon Lee-Easyway 'C' 82-81 in overtime after the game was tied 75-75 at the end of four quarters in the other semi-final.

"We've been so close in all the other tournaments," sighed a relieved Reece after the tense semi-final at the Brunei Basketball Association court in Batu Bersurat.

"Sometimes it was because of a few bad plays that the other team scraped through. We beat ourselves most of the time.

"But you can see that we are improving. Our first tournament we reached the quarter-finals (BBA Open Challenge Trophy in March), then the semi-finals (9th National Sports Carnival earlier this month) and now the final.

"I think we've got one more game to go, once we win the championship the players will be more equipped (heading into other tournaments).

"I have to give credit to Dodge; they played like the champions they were. My saying is that if you want to be the champions you have to beat the champions, so I hope we can go all the way now," added the Los Angeles native.

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Source: The Brunei Times