ZAMBOANGA, August 13 ------ The Zamboanga Valientes survived an early struggle before pouring the heat against the Macau Black Bears for an 81-65 win and the championship of The Asian Tournament grand finals. Four-time NBA All-Star DeMarcus Cousins led a late third quarter run, before import Rickey Brice took over the final period to break apart a game the Valientes trailed by as many as 11 points earlier Two back-to-back slams by Brice gave the Valientes their first sizeable lead, 71-55, at the halfway mark of the fourth, signalling the start of celebration for the full house crowd at the Zamboanga Coliseum.
Cousins finished with a near triple double of 21 points, 13 rebounds, and eight assists, while Brice finished with a team-high 25 points and 10 rebounds to emerge as Finals MVP. “We gave everything we had in this final leg to achieve our goal for Zamboanga," said Valientes coach Bobidick Delos Santos. "This was really our dream because in the second leg, we reached the semifinals, and in the third leg, we made it to the finals but couldn't win," Delos Santos added as he recalled the journey of the team owned by Junnie Navarro during the inaugural season of the fledgling regional league.
The Bears had the Valientes on the ropes in the opening half behind the three-point shooting of Tyrone Nesby IV, Damian Chong Qui and Mohamed Kone. The home team trailed by as many as 39-28 before Cousins, home bet Mike Tolomia, and Brice rallied the Valientes back and were just behind at 41-39 at the break. The Valientes were still behind early in the third before Cousins and Brice teamed up in a 12-2 run to take a six-point lead going to the final quarter. There was no turning back for the home team after that.
Chong Qui led the way for Macau with 24 points and seven assists, while Kone and Nesby added 19 and 16 markers, respectively. Zamboanga completed a 5-0 sweep of the grand finals including wins over the Black Bears, Naic Aces, and Vanta Dragons. The Valientes scored a 122-79 blowout of the Aces in the semis to set up the title showdown with the Bears, a 74-73 winner in overtime over the Black Dragons in the other semifinals pairing.
The scores
Zamboanga Valientes (81) - Brice 25, Cousins 21, Johnson 13, Tolomia 11, Diouf 4, Lingganay 3, Cadiz 2, Alcantara 2, Gracia 0, Akpuru 0, Salim 0, Ferrer 0,
Macau Black Bears (65) - Chong Qui 24, Kone 19, Nesby 16, Leung 4, Harris 2, Zeng 0, Chan 0.
Quarterscores: 20-23; 39-41; 56-50; 81-65.
Source: spin.ph
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