Yee Chun Leong
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
JOMARIE Corpuz exploded for 47 points to power D'Barkadz to the YOU.C1000 Cup title after a 105-102 victory over Easyway on Saturday.
The 23-year-old suffered a scare as he was forced to sub out with under two minutes left in the third quarter after getting hit on the left side of his chest.
He then checked back in with 8:53 left in the game for 14 fourth quarter points.
"I wasn't expecting to score that many points," said Corpuz in an interview with BruSports News after the victory.
"It was my passion and love of basketball that I had to come back out to continue to play the game," he added.
Ernesto Espique played a huge role in the win as the 41-year-old turned back the clock to put up 29 points and 15 rebounds.
Jonel Terrado was the other in double figures with 15 points before fouling out in the third period.
On the other hand, Jeremy Chu topscored for Easyway with 28 points.
Jake Chong added a double-double of 25 points and 10 boards while Ong Jian An dropped 20 points and 11 rebounds.
The duo of Jonathan Lim and William Ching chipped in 14 and 11 points respectively.
After a tightly contested opening half, back-to-back treys by Chu to start the third stanza gave Easyway a 10-point lead.
They led by the same margin with four minutes left in the period.
However, a series of missed shots allowed D'Barkadz to cut the deficit to a single basket.
A three-pointer by Kelvin Chai at the buzzer gave Easyway an 87-82 lead going into the decisive frame.
The game was tied at 88-88 after a pair of freethrows by Corpuz two minutes in.
They went in front midway through the quarter after Gabriel Co split his freethrows to make it 95-94.
Chu fouled out with 4:30 left in the game.
Corpuz then hit a close range basket before Ching missed both his attempts from the charity stripe.
Espique went to work in the low post the next play to score to make it 103-99 on the 1:15 mark.
He suffered a cramp while returning back on defence and had to be carried off by his teammates at midcourt.
Ong hit one of two from the line at the other end to make it a three-point game.
MVP chants rang around the court as Corpuz hit two from the line to make it a two-possession game.
Chong then went coast to coast for a layup with 20 seconds to see the game go down the wire.
Corpuz turned the ball over at half court leading to an Easyway timeout with 14 seconds left.
The ball got in the hands of Ching but his three-point attempt went in and out to see D'Barkadz take the crown.
