ZAMBOANGA Valientes completed its sweep of The Asian Tournament Grand Finals, romping the Macau Black Bears in the championship match, 81-65, in a packed Zamboanga Coliseum in Zamboanga City.

The Valientes used a huge 25-15 fourth quarter tally to put away the gutsy Black Bears for good. They led by as big as 20 points, 81-61, after a DeMarcus Cousins slam with less than two minutes left in the contest.

“Until now I still can’t believe we won. I’m so happy. This was really our dream because in the second leg, we reached the semifinals, and in the third leg, we made it to the finals but couldn’t win,” said Zamboanga Valientes head coach Bobidick Delos Santos.

“We gave everything we had in this final leg to achieve our goal for Zamboanga. Thank God we were fortunate enough to win.”

After going unbeaten in the preliminary phase, Zamboanga demolished the Naic Aces in the semifinal before repeating over the Black Bears in the title game to cap off the final and most important leg on a dominant 5-0 winning streak.

American import Rickey Bryce Jr. capped off his impressive performance in the final leg with 25 big points on a very efficient 12-of-14 shooting from the field to go along with 10 rebounds, 2 blocks, and a steal en route to the Finals MVP award.

Meanwhile, former NBA All-Star DeMarcus Cousins came through with 21 points, 13 rebounds, 8 assists, and 2 blocks for the Valientes, who are supported by Col. Ariel Querubin, Major John Dalipe, Cong. Mannix Dalipe, and Cong. Khmer Olaso.

“The experience of DeMarcus made a huge difference,” said Zamboanga Valientes team captain Rudy Lingganay.

“He was the one who spoke during halftime. Macau was leading, and he talked to each of us. He spoke with Bryce. After that, we came out strong. It was a big deal because he is NBA caliber.”

Ex-PBA standout Franky Johnson scored 13 points off the bench, while homegrown star Mike Tolomia chipped in 11 points and 4 assists for Zamboanga Valientes.

Zamboangueños Lingganay, Denver Cadiz, and Job Alcantara also made valuable contributions for the home squad backed by PeekUp, Cocogen, JT Sports, Banat, MLV, Go for Gold, Grumpy Joe, Bruno’s Barbers, Arena Plus, Nemesis Security Agency, and KINGS group of companies

“If you watched the game, our homegrown talents stood out,” said Zamboanga Valientes team owner Junie Navarro.

“Cadiz, though not well-known, truly shined. It’s not just because of the strength of the imports that we won; the locals really stepped up. That was really our objective—to give local talents the opportunity to shine.”

Damian Chong Qui led the way for Macau with 24 points and 7 assists, while Mohamed Kone and Tyrone Nesby IV added 19 and 16 markers, respectively.