DeMarcus Cousins, Zamboanga Valientes complete title sweep in The Asian Tournament

The Zamboanga Valientes staged a furious second half rally to stun the Macau Black Bears in the finals, 81-65, and complete a title sweep of the The Asian Tournament on Saturday at the Zamboanga Coliseum in Zamboanga City.

The home team unloaded a 25-15 fourth quarter blast after trailing by double digits in the first half with import DeMarcus Cousins' slam in the final two minutes sealing the victory for the Valientes.

"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."

Cousins, a former NBA star, tallied  21 points, 13 rebounds, 8 assists, and 2 blocks for the Valientes while fellow American import Rickey Bryce Jr. churned out 25 big points in the final leg to go along with 10 rebounds, 2 blocks, and a steal en route to the Finals MVP award.

Former PBA standout Franky Johnson scored 13 points off the bench while Mike Tolomia chipped in 11 points and 4 assists.

Zamboanga capped off the preliminary phase with a clean 3-0 record before dominating the  Naic Aces in the crossover semifinals.

—Bea Micaller/JMB, GMA Integrated News