Yee Chun Leong
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
SYSTEMATIC Living gave Easyway a run for their money in their YOU.C1000 Cup Group B encounter last night.
The stronger and more experienced Easyway side struggled and were pushed to a decisive fourth quarter by their much younger opponents in an 80-55 victory at the BBA court in Batu Bersurat.
An upset was on the cards when Easyway trailed 47-42 going into the fourth quarter before they switched gears enroute to victory.
With the absence of Ben Sim and Kel Hung, Khoo Chin Kai led everyone with a game-high of 21 points while Md Zainul Ashyraf Hj Hussin added 20 for Easyway.
On the other hand, 18-year-old Kon Yee Hung was the only one in double figures for Systematic Living with 15 points while the trio of Jason Lim, Devon Lim and Simon Chong netted seven points each in the defeat.
After a closely contested first half ,where baskets were hard to come by, Easyway looked to have settled down in the third quarter.
They finally broke away and created some breathing space at 35-26 midway through the period.
However, Systematic Living came alive at the offensive end led by Kon, who poured in 10 points in the quarter.
They stole the lead at 42-41 with over a minute left in the third stanza after a trey by Kon.
Facing a five-point deficit to start the fourth quarter, experience came into play for Easyway as they got the ball down to Zainul which resulted in a 10-0 run to start.
They soon found themselves up 63-53 midway through the frame and things completely crumbled for Systematic Living.
Easyway also picked up at the defensive end leading to fastbreaks for another 10-0 run then and soon found themselves up by 20 points.
Systematic Living were without a field goal for over six minutes and finally got one through Simon scoring off a layup with 45 seconds left in the game as a mere consolation.
The second game saw defending champions YTE win their second game in as many nights with a 103-89 triumph over Setia Builders.
