Seasonal adjustment suited to Seapower
NEWLY-crowned Senior Shield champions Seasonal came back to earth when they were beaten by title rivals Seapower 78-69 in a Hong Kong men's Division A1 match at the MacPherson Stadium last night.
Seasonal, who edged Suntex last Thursday to successfully retain their Shield championship, began their league title defence in haphazard style.
Looking a shadow of themselves from their earlier exploits, Seasonal seemed out of sorts as Seapower began in determined fashion.
Leading them to victory was Mark Bright, who netted 22 points, while stylish forward Bill Courtney contributed largely to the win with 17 points.
Although the match did not reach any great heights, the teams matched each other point-for-point in the early stages until the defending champions gradually gave way to Seapower's hard driving game.
Seapower slipped to a higher gear in the last 10 minutes of the match as Seasonal began to visibly tire.
Meanwhile, beaten Senior Shield finalists Suntex put some of their disappointment from last Thursday's final behind them by thrashing Fukien 103-70.
Suntex, who lost the Senior Shield final by only two points, were far too strong for Fukien who were unable to contain their opponents' pacy forwards, ably led by Tony Dunkin.
Dunkin had an excellent game in Suntex's first Division A1 league match of the season by top-scoring with 23 points.
He was shadowed in the scoring stakes by teammate and three-point specialist Yung Kam-wah who shot 22 points including five three-pointers.
Even after Fukien's Steve Jackson squared the game with a lay-up right on the half-time buzzer at 42-42, Suntex were always able to get the upper hand and by the middle of the second 20-minute half they were already running away with the game.
