Yee Chun Leong
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
YUNI-KU turned it around in the decisive quarter for a 98-92 come from behind win over Fateh in the quarter-finals of the YOU.C1000 Cup on Tuesday.
They began the final period with 14 unanswered points in three minutes and never looked back to march into the last-four of the competition.
Asi Medina put up a massive double-double with 43 points and 12 rebounds to lead Yuni-ku at the BBA Court in Batu Bersurat.
Kon Yee Hung contributed 20 and Kenny Lim chipped in 11 in the triumph.
On the other hand, Friedrich Bernabe topscored for Fateh with 25 points.
John Casanas poured in 21 while Raymond Maquiraya added 16.
Gerald Balaota was the other in double figures with 12 to his name.
Despite a 30-minute delay to the start of the game due to a shot clock problem, Fateh came out of the gate swinging with eight straight points.
They led by as many as 10 points in the opening frame thanks to strong hustle plays to take a 27-18 going into the second quarter.
Fateh dictated the tempo of the game but foul trouble started to haunt them.
Having only eight players in rotation, they picked up 12 fouls in the stanza but stuck their noses in front 45-43 at halftime.
The game was tied several times in the third period and Yuni-ku just couldn't pull ahead.
With the game tied at 56-56 with six minutes to play, Fateh went on an 11-2 run.
Yuni-ku adjusted at the defensive end to close to within a single basket.
Maquiraya then knocked down a shot from the freethrow line off the inbounds to keep Fateh ahead 78-73 going into the fourth period.
The turnaround came as Yuni-ku turned defence into points.
Their full court man-to-man pressure paid off as they forced turnovers to score in transition.
They went ahead by as many as 12 points but looked nervy.
Plagued by turnovers much of the game, they hung on to the ball on every possession to secure a semis berth.
