Urban Basketball League – Credit to Go Young team
Game 5
Speedhunters-SPH (Home) vs Go Young-GYO (Away)
Speedmart 99 Klang 2100
Final Score 83-74
GYO got off to a strong start and raced to a 15 point lead, with the score at 3-18 halfway through the 1st quarter, Idham Khalid (#97) and Sassin Selvaraja (#2) took advantage of their size mismatch, while Afifi Tahar (#33) and Mohamad Ariff (#7) consistently got to the baskets and made layups. SPH’s shooters, lead by Zhi Yi Chin (#9) and Kian Rong Lim (#16) started getting warmed up late in the 1st quarter and made some difficult shots, and the quarter ended at 11-24.
GYO used a 3-2 zone defense to counter SPH’s 5 man out offense style, and were able to close out on shooters initially, but in the 2nd quarter, SPH incorporated multiple cuts to the basket that caused a lot of trouble for GYO’s defense, as their players were getting easy baskets at the rim while they kept up their hot shooting from outside. Yoon Khoong Phang (#7) and Zhi Yi Chin (#9) lead the charge for SPH and eventually erased GYO’s lead, entering halftime with their own 8 point lead, 41-33.
The 3rd quarter was fairly even early on with both teams trading baskets, halfway through the quarter however, GYO’s scoring leader at that point landed awkwardly after a foul and had to leave the game for good. Both teams continued playing competitively throughout and SPH finished the quarter with a slight advantage at 56-53.
GYO’s #7 who finished the game with 20 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assist, continued doing his best to bring the team back, scoring 10 points in the final quarter as both teams gave their all to try and win the game. SPH’s #7 however, found ways to continue making shots and free throws, scoring 9 points in the quarter and finishing the game with a double-double of 21 points and 12 rebounds. GYO resorted to fouling SPH’s players in order to stop time forcing SPH to shoot free throws, and it almost worked as SPH made only 9 out of 18 free throws in the last few minutes, however GYO could not generate enough offense to catch up to SPH, and the game ended with the score of 83-74 for SPH.
by Azmil Zakri