Yee Chun Leong
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
LOCAL boys Jonathan Lim and William Ching are taking the best out from their outing with Pegasus in the recently concluded Malaysia D-League.
The competition is the first for the duo in terms of pro basketball and they look to fully utilise the new experiences gained.
“Although I didn’t get a lot of playing time, I’ve learnt a lot through training with the Malaysian players,” said Lim in a recent interview with BruSports News.
“This experience has made me understand the game of basketball at a different level. In my opinion I do think that the Bruneian level of talent is on par with the Malaysian standard but we don’t understand how to play as a team.
“Majority of the teams in the D-League have trained and played under a proper system for years which helped them grow as a team, as well as individually,” he added.
“I was personally struggling with the full court press at the beginning of the tournament but with the support of my teammates I was able to overcome my weakness,” continued the 20-year-old.
When asked on what is the most important thing that he grasped from this KL stint, Lim replied: “I’ve learnt to be more confident in myself during the game and I should always aim to shoot the basketball.
“I was playing with no confidence and was too passive. I have also learnt to also to play at a pace instead of playing at one speed when breaking the full court press,” he added.
“Most importantly, I’ve learnt to play as a team and to be a better team player,” added Lim, who is in his final semester in Curtin University.
Meanwhile, Ching will savour the experience playing with his Malaysian counterparts and being guided by a foreign coach Andika Supriadi Saputra aka Bedu.
“It was great playing and training alongside my foreign teammates who gave me advice based on their experience,” said Ching.
“Coach Bedu guided us a lot during trainings and set a lot of plays which I’m unfamiliar with in Brunei. We also went through video reviews before games to prepare.
“Basketball is a lot more physical in Malaysia compared to Brunei. Everyone there is playing with a system and are fit to play. I will need to also work on being more disciplined,” added the shooting guard.
When asked on what is his biggest takeway from the competition, Ching replied: “To be able to play under a professional coach and being able to share the court with top talents from Malaysia.
“From here I will need to improve on my basketball fundamentals and become more fit to play the sport,.
“But I also feel like I have become more confident playing when it comes to aggressive defence,” he concluded.
Pegasus missed out on the elite-eight after finishing with a 2-4 win-loss record at the Malaysian capital.
The Pegasus roster was made up of a mixture of Brunei and Malaysian players.
The other two Bruneian players included Marcus Quirk, who was named in the all-MDL first team and was awarded top Rebounder award, and Jeremy Chu as both has had prior experience overseas.
