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Ryukyu Golden Kings beat Guangzhou Long-Lions to claim The Terrific 12 championship
2018-09-23

In the final match of The Terrific 12, the Ryukyu Golden Kings bested the Guangzhou Long-Lions to claim the championship, powered by The Terrific 12 MVP Ryuichi Kishimoto. Earlier, the Seoul Samsung Thunders topped the Nagoya Diamond Dolphins to claim third place. The Terrific 12 basketball tournament is hosted by Sports Bureau of Macao SAR Government and Asia League.

The Nagoya Diamond Dolphins and the Seoul Samsung Thunders battled for 3rd place to open up the final day of The Terrific 12. They put on a beautiful display of shooting from the get go as the two teams combined to make 19 threes in the first half with 12 coming from Samsung to lead the high-scoring affair, 64-53 after two quarters. Markeith Cummings played came out strong against his former team, scoring 19 points in the first half but got into early foul trouble in the third. He finished with 29 points and 8 Rebounds on a very efficient outing shooting 13/16 from the field. The Thunders remained focused on team basketball and recieved good contributions across the board with Ben Mbala leading the charge. He controlled the paint and shot well from beyond the arc finishing with a double-double – 27 points and 12 rebounds while Lee Guan Hee controlled the perimeter defense and did damage from deep making 4 threes, scoring 16 points and collecting 10 boards. The Diamond Dolphins went on a late run in the fourth getting as close as 6 points with 2 minutes to go. However, Glenn Cosey shut down any comeback hopes and made plays down the stretch. He finished with a team-high 34 points adding 7 rebounds, 5 assists with 6 makes from deep. The Thunders closed it out and take home another podium finish in Asia League. This time they take home third place with a final score of 105-92. Quarter Scores, NDD-SST: 26-34, 53-64, 69-80, 105-92.

The Ryukyu Golden Kings faced off against the Guangzhou Long-lions to determine The Terrific 12 Championship. It was a heated battle the entire game, that featured a lot of length and speed with Jeff Ayres making his presence known early. He threw down thunderous jams and controlled the paint on the defensive end as The Ryukyu Golden Kings jumped out to an early lead of 21-13 after the first quarter. Kyle Fogg caught fire in the second quarter scoring in a number of ways, getting cheers from the capacity crowd onsite. He kept the game close with Guangzhou trailing 41-36 at the half. Guangzhou came out firing at the beginning of the third quarter with Summer Super 8 Finals MVP, Ju Mingxin, finishing a beautiful layup plus the foul to put the Long-Lions up for the first time, 46 to 44. It was a close one after three quarters as the Golden Kings led 60 to 58. Ryukyu went on a run at the start of the fourth led by Ira Brown and Ryuchi Kishimoto who drained a three to give them their biggest lead – 70 to 60 with 7 minutes remaining. The Long-Lions answered back with a 10-0 run of their own, with Ju Mingxin hitting a big 3 to tie the game at 70 all. Kishimoto came up big again, hitting a clutch three with 1:14 left that put Ryukyu up by 6 points. He was named MVP of the Terrific 12 finals game finishing with a team-high 21 points going for 6 of 9 from three. The Ryukyu Golden Kings take home The Terrific 12 championship winning by a score of 85 to 76. Quarter Scores, RGK-GLL: 21-13, 41-36, 60-58, 85-76.