Yee Chun Leong
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
TK TEA House outhustled Hui Huang Enterprise for an 80-76 win in Group B of their YOU.C1000 Fuzhou Cup quarter-final game last night.
The match went down the wire as it was never separated by more than three possessions in the final period at the Fuzhou Shiyyi Association building in Berakas.
TK had opened up a seven-point lead after a layup by Apollo Bibat to make it 71-64 with over three minutes left in the encounter.
Hui Huang responded with back-to-back baskets before Bibat scored off an acrobatic layup.
Hui Huang then got a much needed defensive stop in the next possession but were made to rue a missed chance as they turned the ball over immediately.
Bibat and Darrel Dela Cruz then gave them a six-point gap before Esmond Tan responded with a three-pointer to keep Hui Huang in the match at 75-72.
Francis Barcellano fouled out with just over a minute left to play sending Gisalan to the line where he split his attempts to make it a four-point game.
Benjamin Lim missed a layup at the other end but Soon Kian Leong was there for a putback.
Hui Huang got another stop but once again failed to capitalise with an unforced turnover.
TK came up empty handed and Hui Huang had a chance to go on the break for the tie but instead worked for the winner resulting in Lim taking his usual shot from behind the arc only to watch the ball go in and out with 22 seconds to go.
Hui Huang had no choice but to foul sending Gisalan to the line where he made both.
Coming off a timeout, Lim Aik Hock made it a two-point game with seven seconds on the clock and Hui Huang had their best chance to get back in front as Tan made a steal off the inbounds but just missed the mark under the rim as he was fouled.
However, Tan missed both his charities and they had to foul Bibat to stop the clock.
The latter then made no mistake from the freethrow line to hit them both to ice the game for TK.
Bibat finished the game with only eight points but seven of them came in the decisive frame. He also did a great job dealing with Barcellano, limiting the big man to only six points in the game.
Gisalan led the way offensively as he produced 29 points, 16 of them in the second quarter, where they rallied from 11 points down to lead 44-39 at halftime.
Dela Cruz added 18 points while Roldan Binas was the other in double figures for TK with 11 points to his name in the triumph.
On the other hand, Tan notched 29 points to pace Hui Huang, which included five treys, while Soon was the other in double digit scoring with 13 points.
The second game saw Systematic Living defeat Walltique 72-63 in Group A.
