Palm Cafe prove size not everything

Yee Chun Leong
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

Monday, August 2, 2010

A highly anticipated match-up between two Filipino powerhouses in the 2010 Sultan's Cup saw Palm Cafe stamp their class over MK Kids Salon with a 102-78 victory in Group B at the Brunei Basketball Association court in Batu Bersurat last night.

Don Mordeno produced a game-high of 26 points for Palm Cafe and Marjomar Aying contributed 25 points in the victory.

On the other hand, only Wawie Ybanez got into double figures for MK Kids Salon with 17 points.

The game was close in the opening period but it was Palm Cafe that got off to a better start grabbing a 22-15 lead heading into the second quarter.

It was a physical match with both sides battling under the rim for rebounds which resulted in both getting into the penalty early. Both sides were not giving away any easy baskets and were throwing hard fouls for points to be earned from the charity stripe.

Efren Espiritu, standing at 6ft 5in, was at the heart of the MK Kids Salon defence and was putting up a block party.

Nonetheless, Palm Cafe managed to extend their lead to double digits at 39-27 midway through the period, but MK Kids Salon found their way back, only facing a 44-39 deficit at halftime.

MK Kids Salon won the battle of the boards with their size advantage but had difficulty getting their shots to drop.

Palm Cafe were riding on a 54-44 lead before MK Kids Salon went on a five-point spurt. However, Palm Cafe picked up at the defensive end and each rebound led to an outlet pass that saw them go on a fastbreak. They went to score 14 unanswered points before closing the period with a 68-51 advantage.

MK Kids Salon applied man-to-man defence on their opponents in the fourth stanza but nothing was going to stop the Palm Cafe onslaught. Everything was going their way as MK Kids Salon lost their composure and fell to the tournament favourites. Read More…

Source: The Brunei Times