Sharks set up final grudge match against Palm Cafe

Yee Chun Leong
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

Saturday, August 21, 2010

SHARKS put up a dominating performance to defeat Soon Lee-Easyway
86-61 in the semi-finals of the 2010 Sultan's Cup last night to set up a final date against Palm Cafe at the Brunei Basketball Association court in Batu Bersurat.

Geve Leones did everything for the Sharks to end up with a game-high 32 points in only three quarters.

Three other players hit double figures for the Sharks with Apollo Bibat
pouring in 12 while Aries Castro and Jolito Entapan each chipped in 10
points in the victory. Meanwhile, Lim Liang Wei topscored for Soon
Lee-Easyway with 21 while Ben Sim and Soon Kian Leong contributed 15 and 10 respectively to the losing cause.

The game was a close affair in the first stanza but Sharks turned their game up a notch in the second quarter to open up a 46-33 lead at halftime.

From there on, Sharks never looked back as they dominated the boards and sliced through the defence of Soon Lee-Easyway to score on layups.

They were also running well on both ends of the floor, tiring out their
opponents and extending their advantage to 71-46 heading into the fourth. 

Soon Lee-Easyway couldn't get anything going on offence. They were missing easy shots, including wide open layups which led to
their defeat by the same opponents for the second time in the competition.

Despite the convincing win, Lee Sai Yuk, the playing coach of Sharks, feels that they will be the underdogs heading into the final.

"It is going to be a difficult match because we are smaller in size. They have good guards in Aying and Mordeno as well while our point guard is a little less experienced," Lee told The Brunei Times.

Sharks, whose main players are from the Linktech side that lost to Babes Boutique in the final of the 2009 Brunei Pepsi Cup last year, will see their final matchup as a revenge match.

When asked on what the main factors of the game would be, Lee replied: "Good defence is what is needed. We'll have to shut their guards down and get some good offence."

The second semi-final saw a close contest between MK Kids Salon and Palm Cafe before the latter shifted gears in the fourth quarter to run away with a 98-76 win.  
The Palm Cafe backcourt trio combined for a total of 70 of the team's points. Don Mordeno was the top notcher with 29 points including five treys while Vincent Superio poured in 21 and Marjomar Aying scored 20 with five treys to his name.
Wawie Ybanez topscored for MK Kids Salon with 15 points while Bernie Toledo added 14 and Erwin Velez chipped in 10.

Mordeno started the game on fire with four straight baskets in the opening period to give his team a 25-12 advantage, heading into the second quarter.

MK Kids Salon, however, dominated the boards and managed to keep the game close. They exploited their size advantage to eventually close the gap to 38-45 at halftime. Read More...

Source: The Brunei Times