Yee Chun Leong
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
ESMOND TAN came through in the clutch as he carried Autocare into the semi-finals of the Low San Basketball Tournament with an 81-73 overtime win over TK Teahouse on Monday.
The 39-year-old scored all 10 of his team's points in the extra frame to finish with a game-high of 26 points to go with his 19 rebounds.
Tan felt that they had to win after coming back from 10 down with five minutes left in regulation.
"We managed to get back in the game in the last five minutes and when the game went into OT, the team vowed to complete the comeback," said Tan in an interview with BruSports News after the win.
"Both teams were in foul trouble but our opponents looked gassed and that's when we knew we had to take control of the game," he added.
Ahmad Termizi Hj Noordeen added 20 points while Khoo Chin Kai notched 15.
Lim Liang Wei had an off night with 10 points but grabbed 11 boards.
On the other side, C Baguiro led the way with 17 points while Elvin Requintin added 14.John Terrado was the other in double figures with 10 in a losing effort.
Autocare got off to a good start as they scored the first 12 points of the encounter at the BBA Court in Batu Bersurat.
TK eventually got themselves in the game and tied the match at 16-16 with 2:40 left in the opening period.
The game was slow pace and it remained deadlocked at 26-26 midway through the second quarter.
The two sides couldn't be separated even by the end of the third stanza as they were tied at 53-53.
TK looked like they were going to run away with it after opening up a 10-point advantage midway through the final frame.
Autocare clawed their way back and Mizi split his freethrows to put both sides at 68 apiece with 20 seconds to go.
Daniko Hidalgo had a chance to win it from the line late on but crumbled under the pressure to miss both leading to Tan's heroics.
