NS Matrix Deers Secure Spot in BCL Asia Qualifiers Round 2 After Grueling Battle

Here we come, Jakarta! Congratulations to our Malaysian representative team, our back-to-back champions in the MBL (Major Basketball League), NS Matrix Deers, for their valiant efforts in securing one of the tickets to advance to the BCL (Basketball Champion League) Asia Qualifiers 2024 Round 2.

BCL Asia is one of the biggest tournaments, making its debut this year, featuring the continent’s top 8 clubs. Two qualifying rounds were held. Round 1 happened from April 3-7 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia (UG Arena), where eight clubs, consisting of champions and runners-up of domestic leagues from East and Southeast Asia, competed. NS Matrix Deers faced an unprecedented and never-to-be-duplicated challenge with 1 win (84-98 against Bishrelt Metal with 22 points, 11 rebounds, 2 blocks from Jordan Tolbert) and 2 losses while against Hong Kong Eastern Basketball Team and Prawira Harum Bandung during the group stage.

There’s nothing to lose for NS Matrix Deers players. At the start of the first quarter, Hi-Tech Basketball Club, which gathered several national top scorers, including Moses Morgan, who played for the Major Basketball League as one of the top-notch imports from Thailand, together with Freddie Lish and Marcus Elliot, showed up on the court and Deers trailed by 5. However, one of the best players in Malaysia, Ting Chun Hong, led the team with electrifying shooting talent, registering 11 points, along with other 3-point shooters including lockdown defender De Wee Yiang and sharpshooter Chang Zi Fueng. The Deers contributed 5 three-pointers in the 2nd quarter, which made a 21-35 good run, leading by 9 points onto the next 20 minutes game.

The 3rd quarter was about physicality and defensive game, with two NS Matrix Deers imports, Taishaun Johnson and Daimon Rosser, being everywhere on the court. In terms of offense, foul drawing became simple for Daimon to get charity strikes at the free-throw line. Taishaun blazed in speed with a high focus level of defense, making 3 steals to help the team in defensive transition for easy buckets. Nonetheless, it’s never an easy task when facing Hi-Tech Basketball Club, who are from Thailand and always pose a tough matchup regardless of SEA (Southeast Asia) Games or other Asia games. Until the 4th quarter, local and import players decided to step up for the team and secured one of the crucial wins for NS Matrix Deers with a 93-96 victory, winning by 3 points.

Round 2 will be played in a single-round-robin format, similar to the format in Mongolia. The team will face back-to-back games against Pelita Jaya Basketball (home team) and Hong Kong Eastern Basketball Team, which is the team NS Matrix Deers has to get over with. Not to mention the third game of the team having another close game with the Prawira Harum Bandung in Britama Arena, Jakarta. NS Matrix Deers team is ready to fight for the BCL Asia Qualifiers 2024 in Round 2, which will be held in Jakarta, Indonesia, next week (April 23-26).

Please show us your support for NS Matrix Deers and catch up on YouTube live (FIBA – The Basketball Channel) for more details.