Yee Chun Leong
TUTONG
SOON LEE Heavy Machinery (SLE) clinched the GHK Tutong Cup for the second straight year after closing the match with a 16-0 run to defeat BNS 60-51 in the final on Sunday.
BNS were ahead by seven points before going scoreless for the final 7:30 in regulation at the Tutong Chung Hwa basketball court.
Jake Chong led the way for SLE with 17 points while Kelvin chipped in 10 points.
Hj Ahmed AlFariq Hj Bahrom Affendy added nine points and 12 rebounds in the victory.
On the other side, Jeremy Chu produced a game-high of 18 points to pace BNS.
Sim notched 14 points and Lim Liang Wei has 10 to go with 12 boards.
Jaron On had an off-night shooting but finished with 17 rebounds.
BNS were the better team in the early going and soon opened up a double-digit lead midway through.
AlFariq then split his freethrows to cut the deficit to 18-10 going into the second period.
SLE pushed the tempo in the second frame and Chong caught fire from range - hitting three consecutive treys for nine points in the quarter - to see them go in front.
BNS then regrouped as they closed the gap to 31-30 at halftime.
SLE went with man-to-man defence and a see saw battle ensued.
The game looked to go down the wire as both sides were deadlocked at 44-44 heading into the deciding quarter.
BNS scored the first seven points in the period in the first 2:30 minutes and they never added to the scoreboard after that.
They simply couldn't get anything to fall after that despite getting open looks.
The game was tied at 5-51 with 4:30 left on the clock after a basket courtesy of Ong Jian An.
The took the lead for good with Jayden Chen knocking down a trey with three minutes to play.
Chai then finished off a fake and drive to make it a two-possession game the next minute.
With under a minute to go, Chu unfortunately slipped in BNS' next trip up the floor and Chai was the biggest benefactor as he raced down the floor to complete a fastbreak layup.
BNS took a timeout but came up empty handed once again.
They had to foul twice to get in the penalty with 36 seconds to play and SLE put the match to bed from the line.
Meanwhile, Linktech (pic) bagged the bronze after beating the Defenders 78-67 in the third-place playoff.
Phoan Chung Siang had a game-high of 26 points to pace Linktech while Cris Angelo poured in 26 points and 10 boards.
On the other hand, Darren Yap topscored for The Defenders with 18 points.
Kenny Lim added 15 while Han Ming Kwang chipped in 14 in the defeat.
