Yee Chun Leong
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
FZ-JURAMAS edged Easyway 89-82 to move into the final of the YOU.C1000 Cup Phase 2 last night.
They will face YTE, who defeated Setia Builders 97-74 in the other semi-final game, in the final tonight at the BBA Court in Batu Bersurat.
FZ-Juramas had a good night from range with more than half of their points coming from behind the arc - making 15 of them and shooting just under 50% from 31 attempts.
Filipino import Allan Mangahas had a game-high of 22 points, including six three-pointers with four of them coming in the second period, to lead FZ-Juramas in the victory.
The duo of Alvin Goh, who was a perfect 3-for-3 from three-point territory, and Macky Acosta contributed 16 points each.
On the other hand, Harold James topscored for Easyway with 19 points.
Charles Pepito and Ahmad Termizi Hj Nordeen were also in double figures with 15 and 14 respectively in the defeat.
FZ-Juramas carried a 75-65 advantage into the final quarter but Easyway got back in the game after scoring seven unanswered points in the first 45 seconds.
It remained mostly a two possession game until Mangahas hit a trey to make it 85-78 with under three minutes to play.
Easyway scored the next four points after Md Zainul Ashyraf Hj Hussin split his freethrows followed by Ben Sim knocking down a trey with 1:15 left on the clock.
However, Goh sprinted down the other end off the inbounds for an and-1 to make it a six-point game.
Easyway took a timeout but they turned the ball over twice down the stretch.
The first was when Pepito netted a layup with 49 seconds left but it was waved off as the shot clock buzzer had sounded.
Easyway got a stop in the next possession and scored off the break at the other end with 16 seconds left but the whistle went against them once again as Pepito came from out of bounds to make the layup.
They were then forced to foul quickly on the next play but it was in vain despite Han Ming Kwang splitting his charities then.
Meanwhile, YTE only switched gears in the second half to dispose of Setia Builders.
The first half was closely contested with YTE only holding a 47-44 lead at the interval.
It was then when YTE picked up at the defensive end to outscore their opponents 31-13 to run away with the game.
Leon Kwek topscored for YTE with 21 points while the pair of Eric Palanca and Tony Bong scored 17 points each in the win.
On the other side, John Tang scored more than half of his team’s points as he put up 41 points on the board including seven treys to a losing cause.
The final is scheduled to tip off at 9pm just after the third place play off at 7.15pm.
