| James Kon |
GRANT Goddard scored 30 points to power Tay Electrical over The Kings 78-75 to be crowned the champions of the Chau and Lavamedia U18 Youth Tournament yesterday morning at the Batu Bersurat Basketball Court
For his performance, the six-foot-two Dutchman Grant Goddard won the Most Valuable Player award as well as the Top Scorer prize of the tournament.
Both teams were undefeated coming into the last game of the tournament and put up a tightly contested game for the audience.
Jordan Huang of The Kings played a high scoring game of 26 points in the crucial match up.
The 17-years-old Grant Goddard in an interview said, “I feel great winning the tournament. The team played well together and we were well composed despite we having not trained together before the tournament.”
On how the team built the chemistry, he said, “The players knew each other because we have been playing against each other a long time. Some of the players participated in three-on-three basketball tournament.”
Coach Pong Bing Chau of The Kings said, “We lost the game because of defence. We didn’t play good defence especially in guarding Grant. I felt that the team, in general, did put up good effort to keep the game close.”
Third place went to team Wolves and Street Roc Wildcats come in fourth place.
Organised by Chau and Lavamedia, the tournament was supported by Makan Ceria Sdn Bhd and Brunei Basketball Association and was aimed at promoting basketball among the youths as well as unearth talented players.