Yee Chun Leong
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
DEFENDING champions Cuckoo advanced to the final of the YOU.C1000 Veteran Basketball Cup after a 71-62 win over Kinderflair Basketball Team on Wednesday.
They will face CJMM, who edged GHK Motors 68-64, in the title decider on Sunday at 7pm.
The encounter was a much different affair compared to their first meeting on Friday where Kinderflair blew out their opponents by 47 points - 120-73.
Voon Yiew Ting had a strong showing, especially in the first half, to finish with a game-high of 20 points.
Kevin Tay added 17, knocking down four treys, while Benjamin Lim and Yap Chun Ping posted 10 each in the victory.
On the other hand, Elvin Requintin topscored for Kinderflair with 15 points while Wisley Tumamao added 11 to a losing cause.
Cuckoo had it covered at the defensive end to neutralise their opponents in transition at the BBA Court in Batu Bersurat.
They were getting the ball down to Voon as he got to work from inside the paint to score.
Cuckoo soon opened up a double-digit lead as they led 24-13 at the end of the first period.
Cuckoo were moving the rock to find the open man and Yap converted hoop and harm to extend their lead to 15 points midway through.
Kindeflair were not helped by their turnovers but managed to trim the deficit when Voon, who had 15 points, picked up his third foul before the break.
It was all to play with Cuckoo hanging onto a 43-33 advantage at halftime.
The gap was down to eight points when Requintin finished a close range bucket to start.
But that was as close as it got as Cuckoo held their opponents to only that single field goal for over five minutes.
Voon gave Cuckoo their largest lead at 52-36 after a layup midway through.
Kinderflair were sloppy with the ball and constantly turned the ball over as Cuckoo took a 58-42 lead into the final stanza.
The final is in sight for Cuckoo after the advantage went up to 20 points at 64-44 after a three-pointer by Tay with over eight minutes to go.
To add to Kinderflair’s woes, Requintin picked up an injury while going for a fastbreak layup soon after and didn’t return.
However, Kinderflair went with man-to-man defence and chipped away at the lead.
Cuckoo were unfazed as they utilised the clock on each trip to secure the win.
Over in the second semi-final, Kenny Lim Teck Wee carried CJMM with a 34-point performance as they stay unbeaten
.Ben Sim paced GHK with 19 points while Kenny Lim Han Chuan poured in 19 in a losing effort.
The third-place playoff will tip off at 5pm.
