UBD 'A' lift basketball title

UNIVERSITI Brunei Darussalam 'A' thrashed St Margaret's School (SMS)104-29 to lift the 2008 UBD Cup yesterday afternoon at UBD Multipurpose Hall.

SMS were trailing 28-4 by the time the referee blew the whistle at the end of the first quarter, largely due to good penetration and stellar play inside the paint by UBD A.

Led by national player Yap Chun Ping with a game-high 36 points, UBD A worked effectively to make inroads into their opponents' defence and were also good in their ball distribution.

The UBD A kept the pressure on the SMS in the second quarter. Chun Ping was UBD A's star performer as he came up with multiple assists, steals and rebounds to complement his good shooting.

SMS's poor shooting in the face of some tenacious UBD A defence, combined with their paltry rebounding at both ends of the floor put paid to any hopes of staging a comeback.

Failing to get into double-digits before the start of the third quarter, SMS's 44-8 deficit at half-time took the winds out of their sails.

In the third period, UBD A took advantage of their opponent's lack of focus to put on an exhibition of interceptions and steals which sealed the match.

Quickly turning the SMS turnovers into fast-break points, the Seria side were unable to cope with UBD A's fast paced style of play and looked truely demotivated.

Up 83-20 at the start of the fourth quarter, UBD A's coach was confident enough to rest all five of the team's starters midway through the period.

Indeed, having distinctions such as scoring the most points and coming up with the biggest margin of victory in the competition might have also worked to assure him that victory in their namesake tournament was a certainty when he made the decision.

Sayiddina Ali Secondary School finished third after staging a late comeback to beat the International School Brunei Stingers 66-65, in a game which saw the Stingers up by as much as 20 points in the third quarter but fail to maintain their lead in the face of a strong fourth quarter charge from the Kuala Belait side.

On Thursday, the Stingers lost 58-55 to UBD A in a thrilling semi-final match which went into overtime. St Margaret's edged past Sayiddina Ali 60-59 in the other semi-final game of the day.

Eighteen boys teams and five girls teams participated in the tournament which started late last month. UBD won the girls' title, after the team emerged first in the round-robin competition. Jerudong International School and the Laksamana College of Business finished second and third respectively.

The Brunei Times