Yee Chun Leong
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
FZ-JURAMAS came back from 13 points down in the fourth quarter to stun Easyway 70-65 to be crowned Phase 1 champions of the YOU.C1000 Cup last night.
It was a tale of two halves as Easyway shook off a dismal start to claw their way back from a 19-point second quarter deficit.
They managed to go up by 13 points before FZ-Juramas turned it around in the final eight minutes of the game at the BBA court in Batu Bersurat.
Esmond Tan came up big and led FZ-Juramas with a double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds in the triumph.
Francis Barcellano added 16 points before suffering a cramp with six minutes left in the game while Alvin Goh was the other in double figures with 12 points
On the other hand, Kel Hung paced the way for Easyway with 17 points and 16 rebounds.
Ahmad Termizi Hj Noordeen poured in 17 points and Ben Sim contributed 14 points to a losing cause.
Easyway started the decisive frame with six unanswered points to make it 61-48 before everything went downhill from there.
FZ-Juramas picked up their game at both ends of the floor and used a 10-0 run to close to within three points.
Easyway simply couldn’t get the ball to fall through the hoop as they were held without a field goal for more than six minutes.
The game was tied at 62-62 with 2:35 left on the clock courtesy of a layup by Esmond.
He then converted a pair of freethrows to put FZ-Juramas back in front at 64-63 with 1:23 left in regulation.
Alvin then made it a three-point game after he connected on both his attempts from the charity stripe with 56 seconds left.
Easy responded through Kel Hung after his putback with 34s left made it a one point game but he missed a potential game winner in their next possession.
In turn, William Ching was whistled for an unsportsmanlike foul to send Alvin to the line, where he made no mistake by knocking both down.
Easyway couldn’t get the steal on the inbounds and were forced to foul resulting in Esmond icing the game just before the final buzzer.
Meanwhile, YTE took third place after cruising to a 106-87 victory over TK Tea House.
