Yee Chun Leong
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
ARJAY CASTRO caught fire late on to will The Rookies to a 96-92 victory over Honey Carsmart in the Under-18 semi-finals of the YOU.C1000 Cup.
They will face Hana Boyz, who dismantled Faze 137-21 in the other last-four matchup, in the final on June 26.
Castro finished with a game-high of 32 points to pace The Rookies - 17 of them coming in the fourth quarter.
John Estrada came in clutch at the end front the stripe and finished with 28 points.
Prince Santiago notched 18 and Jacob Romero added 15 in the triumph.
On the other hand, Tiong Wei Xu topscored for Honey Carsmart with 26 points.
Terrance Chieng had 21 points while Bernard Hii and Muhammad Herbert chipped in 13 and 11 respectively in the loss.
Honey Carsmart led most of the way before The Rookies went in front briefly late in the third stanza at the BBA Court in Batu Bersurat.
The former stayed ahead 78-69 midway through the fourth period and remained in a good position at 86-78 with three minutes left to play.
Castro had other plans and heated up from range to knock down three treys – over a span of a minute late on.
The first off a turnover with 1:28 on the clock and the second 19 seconds letter where the 13-year-old dribbled up court to select his spot.
With the scores tied at 92-92, Chieng knocked down a half court heave with 7.3 seconds but waved off as the buzzer had sounded.
Estrada then knocked down a freethrow to put The Rookies ahead.
They followed that with a midcourt inbounds pass the next possession and got the ball to Castro to score with hoop and harm with 0.8s left in regulation.
He then completed the three-point play to seal their passage into the final.
The tournament resumes with Linktech opening their campaign against Amboy's Cup in Group A at 7pm.
The second match will see Easyway and Tech G Enterprise go head-to-head in Group B at 8.45pm.
