Yee Chun Leong
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
EASYWAY crushed Klimzon Engineering 118-72 in Group B to secure a berth in the quarter-finals of the YOU.C1000 Cup on Saturday night.
In what was their third straight win, Jake Chong led the way for Easyway with 22 points while Andy Sim scored 17 - all of them coming in the first half.
The duo of Ben Sim and Decorey Jones added 11 points apiece, with four of the baskets coming from dunks for the latter, at the BBA court in Batu Bersurat.
Nuno Martinez provided a game-high of 24 points, which included five treys, to pace Klimzon.
Vincent Superio contributed 15 points while RJ Lucida was the other in double figures with 10 to his name in the defeat.
Easyway led by as many as nine points in the opening frame but Klimzon kept themselves in the game with their three-point shooting.
Their last three field goals in the frame came from behind the arc which allowed them to stay within 24-19 going into the second quarter.
Klimzon started the second frame where they left off with back-to-back treys.
They eventually tied the game at 27-27 less than two minutes in.
Easyway switched to a 3-2 zone defence to contain the shooters and it worked to perfection.
They converted turnovers into quick points at the other end with Andy being the main beneficiary with 13 in the frame.
Easyway then applied some pressure which resulted in three straight turnovers to allow them to open up a double digit lead for the first time.
They continued piling on fastbreak points to see the lead balloon to 56-36 at halftime.
Easyway picked up at the defensive end and the exclamation came when Jones hammered it home to make it a 30-point game at the 3:30 mark in the third quarter.
The tournament favourites then unloaded their bench then as they continued to pile on the misery of Klimzon.
