Kim Kaizen Lo showed nerves of steel, sinking a buzzer-beating floater and towing third seed True Boss to a 107-105 overtime win over top seed Archiwall-SSI Metal in the winner-take-all final of the Metro Manila Chinese Basketball League on Friday at Activate Hoop Arena.
Knotted at 105-all in the dying seconds of extra time, Lo, a former UST Growling Tiger, received the ball from Wesley Ang before driving to the foul stripe and knocking down a smooth one-hander to clinch the crown.
Lo ended up with 13 points and four rebounds while Zach Huang led the way with 32 points, 14 rebounds, and seven assists. Ang also wound up with 17 points and 14 assists in the finale of this tournament presented by Ang’s Travel, Vital Purified Water, Hero-C, Kenko Pharmaceutical, True Boss, Jersey Haven, and GMW Graphics.
Pierce Chan paced Archiwall with 32 points while league MVP Joel Lee Yu got 15 points.
True Boss’ journey to the top of the amateur league for Filipino-Chinese players was a long road.
True Boss finished the elimination round with a 6-3 slate and had to go through a play-in.
The eventual-champions had to go through sixth seed GMW Graphics and second seed Nougat to get to the final.
Archiwall, meanwhile, swept the nine-game elimination phase before beating DIY Hardware in the semis.
Besides Lee Yu, also composing the Mythical Five are GMW Graphics’ Sean Co, JP Nieles of DIY Hardware, Ralph Chua of Golden Steel, and EJ Lee of Progress.
With the success of its inaugural tournament, MMCBL founder Aldriane Anglim plans to have a bigger tournament for its second season.
“I am extremely grateful and happy because, in comparison to the first season where we began as a friendly league, we have made tremendous progress. We have already attracted prominent figures to join us, and none of this would have been possible without the support of the team owners and our sponsors,” he said.
“We have even grander plans for the future, as we are preparing to launch our Starter Division in August. Stay tuned for more exciting updates!”
