Hyundai Setia Motors drive away with title

Jong's three-pointer hands team Belait Sultan's Cup victory

JONG GUO ZHANG'S three-pointer at the buzzer gave Hyundai Setia Motors a 79-78 victory over SKS Stingers in the 2009 Belait Sultan's Cup final at the Kg Baru basketball court in Seria, Kuala Belait, on Thursday night.

Asked about the shot, Jong replied: "Seriously, I didn't feel anything at that time. The coach had instructed anyone who touched the ball to shoot since there was no time left on the clock.

"I had no choice but to shoot when I got the ball," added Jong.

Hyundai Setia Motors, made up of the 2009 national team players, were down 71-76 late in the last quarter until Fong Yeh Liang stepped up to score five quick points in succession to tie the scores at 76 apiece.

With 20 seconds left in the game SKS Stingers, made up of players from the Chop Eng Seng Keo Pinoy Resources team who had withdrawn from the 111th Philippine Independence basketball tournament due to technical reasons, won possession and managed to wind down the clock to four seconds before making a shot to lead 78-76.

Head coach of the Hyundai Setia Motors, Tony Tan, called a timeout to advance the ball to mid court to go with the play.

"The main play was for them to line up at the penalty line for the inbounds pass. Everyone had their eyes on Esmond Tan as our opponents thought he might be the one to take the shot," said Tony, "but the ball got to Benjamin Lim and he could only pass to Guo Zhang, who was left wide open and eventually made the shot."

Hyundai Setia Motors had to play catch-up throughout the game watching SKS Stingers take the lead and at one stage even open up a 21-point advantage over them.

But in the third quarter the deficit was reduced to only seven points.

According to Yap Chun Ping, shooting guard of Hyundai Setia Motors, they picked up their defence in the second half of the game.

"We managed to get a lot of steals and converted them into fastbreak points including a 15-4 run to reduce their lead," said Yap.

Asked about Jong's shot, Yap said:"I knew it was going in even before the ball had reached the rim."

Brunei's prolific national cager, Esmond Tan, only managed to play the fourth quarter of the game due to an ankle injury.

"I played just to build up my team's confidence and tried to help them as much as I could," said Esmond.

"Winning was great especially when we have the BBA Sultan Cup coming," added the Brunei player.

Esmond said it was the team's amazing efforts on defence that led to the victory.

"This victory boosted our confidence especially after the defeats in the Borneo City Cup."

In the earlier match, Pacific Star overpowered Syarikat Haji Yakub Tarudin 80-70 to take third place in the tournament.

Present as guest of honour to hand over medals and trophies to the winners was Belait District Officer Hj Jamain Momin.

The Brunei Times