Yee Chun Leong
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
EKONIC stunned Propel with an 81-60 drubbing in the Group D opener of the YOU.C1000 Cup on Monday night.
National point guard Ahmad Termizi Hj Noordeen erupted for a game-high of 27 points, which included six treys, to pace Ekonic.
Marcelo Sumagaysay notched 21 points and Jovane Ragas added 11 in the lopsided triumph.
On the other hand, Alvin Goh dropped team-high of 24 points, which included five triples, to lead Propel.
Voon Yiew Ting was the other in double figures with 14 in a losing effort.
Propel were missing Ben Sim and Zhang Yu for the encounter while Ekonic only had five players available to start.
The former had nothing going for them early on as they only found their first basket more than three minutes into the game.
They were bricking most of their shots and were soon down 22-4 with two minutes left in the opening frame.
Mizi did most of the damage with three treys at that point at the BBA Court in Batu Bersurat.
Propel then retaliated with eight unanswered points including back-to-back threes by Goh.
Mizi then knocked down a jumper before the buzzer to put Ekonic up 24-12 going into the second period.
Propel continued to miss some easy looks while Ekonic utilised their speed to score.
They were also outhustling their opponents for the loose balls.
However, Propel stayed in the game and cut the deficit to seven after a Ting Heng Lee three to make it 34-27.
But they went to sleep at the defensive end to see Ekonic go on a 9-0 run to close out the half for a 43-27 advantage.
They got their lead to as many as 20 points but Goh single handedly carried Propel on his shoulders.
He at one point scored 10 straight points for his side and knocked down a three-pointer to make it 50-41.
Ekonic responded by deploying a box-one defence to keep him at bay to carry a 57-43 lead into the final quarter.
Propel were just playing catchup as Ekonic dictated the pace of the game.
Back-to-back threes courtesy of Sumagaysay put Ekonic up by 20 again with over seven minutes left.
The lead eventually ballooned to as large as 28 points to see them run away with the emphatic win.
The competition resumes on Tuesday with Propel taking on MSSSBD in the women's category at 7pm.
Peak and Jedstar will then do battle in men's Group A at 8.30pm.
