Yee Chun Leong
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
EASYWAY switched gears in the second half to defeat Fitness Zone 99-87 in Group B of the YOU.C1000 Cup on Monday night.
The game which is billed as a battle of the top-two teams in the competition didn't disappoint.
American Decorey Jones produced a game-high of 27 points to pace Easyway while captain Ben Sim added 20 to his name.
Jake Chong was the other in double figures for Easyway with 16 points in the victory in front of a capacity crowd at the BBA court in Batu Bersurat.
On the other side, Fitness Zone had distributed scoring with Lim Liang Wei leading the way with 19 points.
Aaron Goh notched 18 points while his older brother Alvin and Esmond Tan bagged 15 apiece.
Yeo Chun Kiat was the other in double figure scoring with 14 points in the defeat.
It was closely contested and the game was not separated by more than two possessions in the opening frame.
Easyway went with man-to-man defence which helped the stay in front 19-15 going into the second period.
The lead got to as many as seven points but Fitness Zone eventually tied the game midway through at 27 apiece after a layup by Tan.
They took the lead for the first time after a pair of freethrows by Aaron with four minutes to the break.
Easyway then scored eight unanswered points before Fitness Zone responded with a 6-0 run of their own.
Devon Lim hit a layup off a timeout with eight seconds left to ensure Easyway lead 39-36 at the interval.
Easyway came out strongly at the start of the third to score seven straight points without reply.
Fitness Zone were in the penalty just four minutes in to add to their woes.
Easyway soon opened up a double digit advantage for the first time with four minutes left in the third at 57-47 which included two dunks by Jones.
The momentum was clearly with Easyway and a three-pointer by Khoo Chin Kai capped off their hard work for a 71-55 lead.
Easyway started the fourth period with an 11-0 run and eventually built that lead to as many as 22 points.
They suffered a scare late on after switching all five of their players on the 2:25min mark with the scoreboard reading 92-71.
Back-to-back treys by Aaron and Tan quickly cut the deficit and they trimmed it even further to 94-81 with over a minute to play.
They eventually got to within 96-86 with 41 seconds to play but Easyway settled their nerves to close out the game.
