Yee Chun Leong
TUTONG
GKL COACH Ryan Yusof credited his youngsters for stepping up to the occasion to steer his side to victory against Pegasus in the final of the GHK Tutong Cup 2022 on Friday night.
“I believe the team was set up in the right way with the right blend of senior and youth players,” said Ryan to BruSports News after the 84-62 win.
“The youth played their hearts out for an important game specially to mention Jake (Chong), Devon (Lim), Brendan (Lim) and Darren (Lee).
“They played a bit smarter today than their normal games and understood what it took to win the game,” he added.
“My compliments to the players and also to the seniors for being there for them.
“Overall, this championship was down to the effort of the youth on knowing how to play basketball when it mattered,” continued Ryan.
GKL looked to have run away in the third quarter after outscoring their opponents 29-13 in the 10-minute frame at the Tutong Chung Hwa basketball court.
However, Pegasus clawed their way to within six points midway through before GKL called a timeout to regroup.
It worked a miracle as GKL scored 11 unanswered points immediately to run away with the title.
When asked on what was said during the intermission, Ryan revealed: “Basically the timeout was just to remind that we were slacking on defence and allowing our opponents to cut through to the basket.
“The players understood that it was the only reason the opponents were allowed back into the game.
With that in mind and the captain (Ben Sim) adding his input to be stronger than this, they knew the mission was to be stronger and faster,” he added.
“They knew that’s how to beat our opponents and that is the brand of basketball we play,” he concluded.
A total of 10 teams separated into two groups battled it out for this year’s competition.
