Zamboanga sweeps Asian Tournament
EX-NBA star Demarcus Cousins ran roughshod as the Zamboanga Valientes completed a perfect championship run with an 81-65 trashing of the Macau Black Bears in the Asian Tournament grand finals over the weekend at the Zamboanga City Coliseum.
The 6-foot-10 Mr. Cousins flirted with a triple-double of 21 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists, saving his best for last after limited action in the elimination round that Zamboanga still found no trouble sweeping despite his absence.
Rickey Brice collared 25 points and 10 rebounds en route to the Finals Most Valuable Player citation after leading the squad right from the get go.
Former PBA players Mike Tolomia, Rudy Lingganay, Mac Belo and Franky Johnson also threw in ample contributions for the team owned by Junnie Navarro.
Zamboanga, which went title-less in the first four legs, had a sluggish start by staring at an early 28-39 deficit before striking to within 39-41 at the turn.
Messrs. Cousins and Brice took over from there, anchoring a 32-14 barrage to erect a commanding 71-55 lead halfway through the payoff period en route to the win in front of 15,000 Zamboangeños.
A four-time All-Star and two-time All-NBA member, Mr. Cousins put on the finishing touches with a thunderous slam in the last two minutes as Zamboanga capped a flawless 5-0 campaign. — John Bryan Ulanday