D'Babes/Sharks' Don shoots down Easyway

IT WAS a match whose energy and passion lived up to the fans' expectations... the scoreline however did not.

Easyway/CK Tang will have to wait just a little longer to pull one over rivals D'Babes/Sharks after falling to them 68-80 in a highly anticipated matchup of Brunei's basketball powerhouses.

Don Mordeno put on a dominating performance to lead D'Babes/Sharks in scoring with a 21-point effort at the Brunei Basketball Association at Batu Bersurat last night.

A Dark chipped in 13 points and Elvin Requintin added another 10 in the win.

Easyway captain Ben Sim put in a commendable all-round effort by grabbing seven rebounds and scoring a game high of 26 point including going eight for eight from the charity stripe. He also dished out four assists.

Choo Yung Jian also filled up the stats sheet with 15 points, five rebounds, five assists, two steals and two blocks while Muhd Zainul Ashyraf Hj Hussin recorded 13 points, 16 rebounds, three assists and three steals.

Easyway was on the back foot immediately from tip-off, struggling to contain D'Babes/Sharks' potent offence and failing to break into their defensive stronghold.

The game was played at D'Babes/Sharks' pace which gave their opponents plenty of trouble, prompting national coach Kevin Reece to call a time-out.

The intermission helped to boost morale, with Choo causing chaos via acrobatic plays on both the offensive and defensive end, capped off by a three-pointer.

He also recorded an impressive block on Majomar Aying on the break, sending cheers throughout the fully-packed stands.

Despite this, D'Babes/Sharks were still the better team, ending the quarter with a 12-26 lead.

D'Babes/Sharks put on a dominant display on the boards in the early stages of the second quarter, their physical play giving all sorts of headaches for Easyway.

The team comprising of national cagers would however find their stride and start to put pressure on D'Babes/Sharks.

They would go on a string of runs, ending the quarter strongly to lie just 7 points off the lead with the scoreline reading 35-42.

Muhd Zainul Ashyraf started the third quarter with two quick consecutive baskets to cut the deficit to just three points.

D'Babes/Sharks would immediately respond with Mordeno leading the charge.

The game was already running away from Easyway by now but they were determined to not go down without a fight, eventhough they were down 15 points heading into the final quarter.

Easyway would try to make a final charge via Sim but Mordeno would come up with an answer every time to close out the match and hand his team the win.

Asked what happened in the game, Reece replied, "We just had a bad first quarter... that was it, a slow start. Tonight we dug ourselves a hole that we just couldn't get out of.

"This is a good team (D'Babes/Sharks), there is no error for margin. I take my hat off to the team and hopefully we'll see them again. By all means I don't think we're finished, we should win tomorrow," he added.

"No excuses but give me the team that I want, I've got two players not playing. Even if one player could play, it could help us in certain situations.

"But I'm not taking that away from the bench, they're a good team. We just have to come out hard the next game and get a better start," he added.

Easyway will have little time to rest though as they take on JedStar later today.

The earlier match saw MK Syarikat Jazmar triumph over Aziz Latif Company 75-69.The Brunei Times