HONG KONG powerhouse Seasonal successfully retained their Senior Shield title after surviving a major scare from a resurgent Suntex in a final which went right down to the wire at the MacPherson Stadium last night. Seasonal's narrow 75-73 victory earned them their first title of the season. Shrugging off their earlier 102-79 defeat by Suntex in the double-elimination game played on Monday, the territory's number one team showed their resilience despite a late rally by Suntex in the closing stages of the game before a capacity crowd of 1,500. Seasonal led 41-28 at half time and it looked at that stage that it was going to be a mere formality. They built a 17-point lead two minutes after the break but Suntex had other ideas and gradually clawed their way back into the game, closing the gap to 67-69 with a minute to go. Seasonal committed a string of fouls which enabled the Suntex recovery and when John Spencer gave his side a 70-69 lead with a three-pointer, the stage was set for a fitting finale. Mark Meredith, who was Suntex's lynchpin in attack, restored Seasonal's lead at 71-70. The teams were then deadlocked at 73-73 before two more free throws, converted by Meredith and Leung Yuet-ming, wrapped up the game. An ecstatic Ng Chu-yip, who had another superb game, said: ''We really had to work hard for the victory and it couldn't really have been much closer. We defended very well in the end and played our hearts out to win. It was a great team effort.'' Meredith emerged as the top scorer of the game with 25 points while fellow forward David Willard was also in top form hitting 19 points. Suntex's shooting was way off target in the early stages as Seasonal were able to pile on the points on the counter-attack with Meredith most effective on his surging runs. The superb form from three-point specialist Yung Kam-wah in their earlier game had deserted him and star player Dexter Boney looked a shadow of himself for Suntex. Nevertheless, Suntex pushed Seasonal to the limit and could have won the title had Craig Upchurch's shot from outside the semi-circle in the dying seconds found its target. Seasonal got right down to business leading 10-2 after two minutes of play and they gradually built a handy lead with Suntex, at this stage, outplayed. Suntex coach Cheung Tai-wing said: ''We came very close to winning but Seasonal showed their class in the end. It was an exciting encounter and we very nearly beat them. It was hard playing at MacPherson Stadium after playing our previous game at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium but I'm still proud of my boys who played a hard game and gave everything they had.''
