Yee Chun Leong
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
EARL Medina is looking to end on a high note when TK Tea House face Fuzhou Shiyyi Association in the final of the YOU.C1000 Cup on Friday at 8.30pm.
Born and raised in Brunei, the 16-year-old will play his last competitive game before heading to the Philippines to further his studies.
"It has been a great journey and I will definitely miss Brunei," said Medina in an interview with BruSports News on Wednesday.
"I am expecting a great match this Friday and I hope the audience will enjoy final after a long break," he added.
This will be the second meeting between the two sides as they had faced off in the group stages where TK ran away with a 100-83 victory.
Medina believes that this battle will be different this time around.
"We may have beaten them in the group stage, however, they are still a great team and just beat the defending champions (Easyway)," said Medina.
"This just shows how tough and different they are at this stage especially with a complete line up unlike during our first match up.
"It's a team game. We need every one to show up and bring their ‘A’ game especially our role players," he added.
Lim Liang Wei will be a threat to watch out for as he dropped 44 points in the first meeting.
When asked on how they look to contain the Fuzhou forward, Medina replied: "We all know that he is an offensive threat but I have a lot of trust on our big guys.
"Protecting the paint and initiating defensive stops will be a factor in this game to limit his scoring. Besides, a lot of things can happen. Let's just find out and hope for the best," he concluded.
Fuzhou upbeat for final
FUZHOU point guard Ahmad Termizi Hj Noordeen highlighted that they bolster a full squad this time around.
They were missing the services of their big men - Jerson Mendoza and Jake Ten - as well as point guard Lim Aik Hock in their first encounter.
"They handed us our only loss in the tournament so far. I believe we are a different team now, and more comfortable playing as a team compared to previous matchup which was our first game," said Mizi.
"Team morale is very high going into the finals and we feel good with our chances.
"The kid (Medina) is really talented. Containing him will be a tough task, but we need to limit his easy transition buckets which really gets him going," he added.
When asked on what will be key for the battle, Mizi replied: "Rebounds and transition points, which we previously lost in both areas.
"TK get the majority of their points in transition. If we can limit them, we have a good chance," he added.
