An early 10-0 run and allowed a zero-point first period may not mean anything. Tough defense and making free throws down the strech could mean much more. SOUTHORN Tigers made seven of the twelve free throws in the final period and escaped from a second half collapse to get into the Final.

M.I.B. has a terrible start on the offensive end, missing all eleven field goals in the first period and made only one on twelve attempts in the second period. Missed both the only two free throws in the period, Adrian Chow and his team scored only two points in the half and was down 14-2.

The third period didn’t look very good to both teams either. The Tigers commited 5 turnovers, have only 5 field golad attemps, while M.I.B. had three TOs and 4 field goal attemps. It was still a 10-point lead by the Tigers, however, it didn’t last long.

M.I.B. pressed on defense in the final period, and converted Tigers’ turnovers into consecutive points, and they lead the first time in the game at 20-19 after a second half 18-5 run. But the team cannot score afterwards and both teams have no more field goals in the ensuing possessions.

All the seven points in the final period for SOUTHORN Tigers are from the line, four from Wilson Chow and Terence Chan scored the final three points. Ken Leung missed two free throw in the mix. Benny Wong was the other only player who has had a field goal attemp in the period.

Both team focused on playing near the basket, having only a combined 11 three-point attempts, and made none. In the previous match up of the two teams, there were seven treys on a total 37 attempts. Benny Wong, the leading three point shooter in the league, has only one attempt from beyond the arc and scored just 4 points.

Adrian Chou lead his team in rebound including four offensive boards but missed all eight field attempts and scored only one point. Jefferson Tong, who bothered by minor injury during practice, added 8 points, 4 rebounds and 2 steals despite missing all four foul shots. The team made ony 4-16 at the line.

Tigers has only 25 field goal attempts. Terence Chan, the team’s leading rebounder, added 10 points, 7 rebounds and a steal and Wilson Chow has 8 points, 6 rebounds and two blocked shots. Tiger’s scoring leader, Benny Wong, shot only 1-4 and committed six turnovers. Four players committed four fouls: Terence Chan, Will Kam, Bryan Lo, Jefferson Tong.

There were two “unspotsmanship fouls” in the game. M.I.B. has 8 fouls in the last period.

Twenty points for a team and a combined 45 points in one game is the second lowest record so far. The previous low was a GTE 18:24 SAM game two. The teams set a league high 35 fouls in a single game. The bench from M.I.B. scored 6 points.

Tigers starters provided all the scoring for the team. SOUTHRON Tigers played without starter Patrick Tse who is not in town. M.I.B. center Colman Li did not attend the game for second straight time.

The Tigers shot only 11-39 at the line in the first three games but made 11-23 in just the Semi-Final. This is the first game in the league without one single trey.

Four halftime points set a league low record since 5 points by the G.T. Explorers in a 18-24 loss to SAMURAI.