Yee Chun Leong
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
TK TEA HOUSE outlasted Systematic Living 108-104 for a thrilling double overtime win in Group B of the YOU.C1000 Cup last night.
TK Tea House, who were missing both Erwin Velez and Roldan Binas, had distributed scoring with five players in double figures.
Darrel Dela Cruz was the topscorer with 20 points while Michael Ong had 19.
Ryan Garcia poured in 18 points while the duo of Apollo Bibat and Hans Abling chipped in 16 and 14 respectively in the hard-fought victory.
On the other hand, Kon Yee Hung led everyone with a game-high of 27 points - 13 of them coming after regulation time.
Devon Lim also had a good shooting night with 21 to his name while the pair of Ong Jian An and Simon Chong contributed 17 and 14 respectively in the defeat.
Both teams went back and forth the entire way and it was mostly a one possession game throughout from the third period onwards.
Dela Cruz had given TK an 81-80 lead after converting a three-point play with just over two minutes left in regulation.
Jian An then put Systematic Living back in front at the other end and the game was tied after Bibat split his freethrows with a minute to go.
Simon could have won Systematic Living the match but missed a pair of freethrows with 24 seconds left on the clock.
Aries Castro wanted a foul at the other end but to no avail resulting in overtime.
It was a battle of freethrows and Systematic Living made it a two-possession game after Jason Lim split his charities to make it 94-89 with 1:35 left in the first overtime.
Dela Cruz then missed both from the stripe but Abling was there for the putback to cut the deficit to 94-93 with a minute to go.
Jason was put at the line again and this time he missed both his attempts.
Bibat also missed both his charities with 33 seconds left giving Systematic Living a chance to win it.
They missed their chance and it allowed Bibat to grab the rebound and go coast-to-coast for an and-1.
The game looked over after he hit his freethrow with nine seconds left but Yee Hung had other plans as he dribbled his way down the court to score off a layup to send the game to a second overtime.
Systematic Living suffered from attrition with their backcourt pairing of Jian An and Cheah Yong Sin fouling out.
TK then jumped out to a quick lead and were in front 107-99 with two minutes left after a pair of freethrows courtesy of Abling.
Systematic Living were given hope after Yee Hung knocked down a trey with a minute left and hit another jumper after to trim the deficit to three points late on.
However, they were force to foul and Bibat put the game to bed with a freethrow with five seconds left.
Meanwhile, Setia Builders picked up their first Group A win in three games after defeating Yuniku 81-68 in the second match.
