Yee Chun Leong
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
The Belait District Basketball Association (BDBA) opened their National Basketball League campaign on a winning note after escaping with a 59-58 victory over Team 409 last night.
Heng Fook Yuan finished with a game-high of 21 points to pace BDBA while Anderson Yeo added 14 in the victory at the BBA Court in Batu Bersurat.
On the other hand, Chan Yung Ken was the only player in double figures for Team 409 with 16 points in a losing effort.
Team 409 got off to a slow start and faced a double-digit deficit in the early stages of the game.
Things only started picking up for them in the second period as they closed the gap to within 29-25 at halftime.
BDBA were unable to find anything going on offence after the break as Team 409 opened the second half with a 7-0 run.
It took BDBA well over four minutes before Heng knocked down a short jumper to stop the rut.
A see-saw battle ensued with both sides trading leads but it was Team 409 who stuck their noses in front 38-37 entering the final frame.
Neither team could pull away as the gap never got larger than a two-possession game.
Back-to-back three pointers by Chan put Team 409 up 55-49 with four minutes to play but BDBA responded with two treys of their own to see the game all tied up.
Chan split his charities from the stripe with under two minutes on the clock to put his side up 58-57.
However, Heng knocked down a pair at the other end to help BDBA regain the lead.
It was a scrappy final minute of the game with both sides turning the ball each time they had possession.
Wong Lih Shean had a chance to win the game for Team 409 in the final seconds of the game only to watch his effort just off the mark.
Meanwhile, Easyway beat Yi's Nation 101-84 in the second game.
With the scores tied at 41 apiece at the break, Easyway pulled away to outscore their opponents 36-10 in the third period enroute to victory.
