Brilliant Leones lifts Linktech

GEVE LEONES'S 40-point performance lifted Linktech over Chop Eng Seng Keo (CESK) Pinoy Resources 92-82 in their quarter-final match of the 2009 Brunei Pepsi Cup at the Brunei Basketball Association court in Batu Bersurat last night.

Taken out late in the game after a collision with Wawie Ebanez, Linktech head coach Lito Porlahe had no choice but to put Leones back into the game with two minutes left in the match with Linktech protecting an 84-78 lead.

With quick penetration skills and high leaping ability, CESK simply had no answer to Leones, who was superb at the offensive end and at setting up his teammates for easy baskets.

His seven points in the final two minutes helped Linktech secure the win.

Linktech started out shaky, finding the CESK's height and size advantage too much of a problem. CESK's Efren Espiritu, standing at 6ft 5in, was blocking shots in the paint and preventing his opponents from cutting to the paint to make easy layups.

However, the momentum changed once Espiritu was taken out midway through the first period.

Linktech gained confidence as they exploited the gaps in CESK's defence and took an 18-15 lead into the second quarter which they never lost.

Elvin Requintin of Linktech was up to his defensive duties blocking shots superbly to deny CESK and help Linktech to hold on to a 40-32 advantage going into halftime.

Linktech continued to defend and rotate the ball well on offence and this helped them to establish a lead as large as 20 points halfway through the third period.

Not going down without a fight, CESK fought back through Ebanez, who scored 25 points, in the fourth quarter but it was not enough as Linktech held on to the win.

"I thought that we were very lucky tonight (Saturday). The good thing was that all the players on the team performed," said Porlahe.

"The CESK players are very tall so I told them to concentrate on our running game," added Porlahe.

Asked about his winning formula, Porlahe replied: "The strategy was to take it slow in the first half as we needed the power to play in the second half."

Having won their first quarter-final match, Porlahe is already focused on their next game.

"We need to win one more game at least to secure ourselves a semi-final place," said Porlahe.

Meanwhile, Arnel Caringal, the assistant coach of CESK, thought that Linktech were lucky to win last night.

"I thought that our opponents were lucky as they kept getting the rebounds. Our players are a bit older and we lacked stamina," said Caringal after the match.

"Initially we played with a 1-2-2 defence which worked well against them but the key point in us losing was that we missed too many free throws," added Caringal.

Despite the loss, Caringal remains positive that his team can make it to the semi-finals. He also pointed out that they were still missing a key player, point guard Ronnel Sugnan.

In the earlier game, Vincent Superio poured in 49 points to help White Heaven cap off a 92-75 victory over Team Wayne 'B'.

Sonny Bautista had a good shooting night to lead Team Wayne 'B' with 33 points.

Today's game will see the women's championship match between Ismakom and Muara Gas at 5.30pm.

The first men's game will see Yuan Tong Enterprise (YTE) take on Kitchen of Jasmine at 7pm while Bukit Ladang will go up against Babes Boutique at 8.30pm.The Brunei Times