KUCHING: The finals for the Kuching Open will see highly touted Tiger Lord facing D & C Sentosa for the title tonight at the MBKS Indoor Stadium.
In the women’s championship, coach Voon Soon Liong’s unbeaten Pest will play Wung Chen for the crown.
Tiger, with internationals Guganeswaran Batumalai, John Ng and Chin Tzin Shien in the line-up, qualified for the finals when they beat Starry Sports Recreational (SSR) Monday night.
After opening their play-off campaign with a 98-64 blowout win over Kim Bay, former international Chai Chze Hian’s men started off strongly again to end the first quarter with a 21-12 lead.
The second quarter was pretty much the same story again as Tiger continued pressing SSR to end the first half with a big 21 points cushion.
With the score 49-28 entering the third quarter, SSR tried to cut the deficit scoring 23 points but it was to no avail as Tiger scored 16 points to enter the fourth quarter with a 14 point margin.
The finalists were not to be denied and wound up taking the match winning 81-70.
In the other match, community team Sungai Apong BA(SABA) defeated Avengers.
The teams were evenly matched in the first quarter with Avengers keeping things close to only be down a single basket at the end of the first quarter.
Entering the second quarter leading 21-19, SABA finally found their scoring touch with 31 points to overwhelm the Avengers who could only answer with 11 points.
Even with their big lead, SABA did not let up and enter the fourth quarter leading 79-34 as the Avengers offence went cold.
With the outcome in no doubt, the only question was whether SABA could put the score into triple digits.
They finally did it with one final basket to make the score 100-45, just as time was expiring.
Tonigh’s women final will be a battle of youth versus experience in addition to a case of redemption for Wung Chen.
Coach Voon’s Pest has an average age of 22 while Wung Chen’s players are in their late 20’s.
On paper, they match up quite evenly as their rosters represent some of the best female hoop talent in Kuching.
“I think it will be a good match,” said Voon.
Voon intends to use his team’s youth as one of his key weapons to ensure Pest end the tournament with a perfect record.
For him, it will be an up-tempo game where his players’ fitness will be a key factor.
“We will play a fast break game and our stamina will be key,” said Voon.
He will be looking to key players like forward Tay Siaw Ming, guard Chong Ik Mei and centre Chong Chang Fei to shoulder the bulk of the work while asking the rest of the line-up to step up their game.
For Wung Chen’s coach Ng Kim Eng, it will be a case of redemption as they were beaten by Pest 44-32 in the group round, the only blemish on their record.
Bong Yi Ke, a former national player and Liew Pek Yong, a former state player, are two Wung Chen’s players that coach Voon intends to be wary of.