| Fadhil Yunus |
TUTONG Basketball registered their second victory in Group ‘A’ of the YOU-C 1000 Basketball Cup and may consequently halt Menglait Basketball passage to the next round following a closely-knitted 77-73 win at the Brunei Basketball Association Court in Batu Bersurat last night.
Menglait, which assembled a majority of Filipino players, needed to claw their way back into extending their stay in the competition by establishing an 11-point winning margin.
However, with so much importance riding on the game, the Filipino contingent, who used to enjoy deep runs in big local tournaments, were outpointed by the young guns of Tutong Basketball – further proof of a change of guard in the domestic basketball scene.
Tutong Basketball player Onn Jen Hao played a key role for his team after leading the scoring charts with 25 points while Darren Yap contributed with 17 points while A Jauhali scored 20 points in a losing effort for the Menglait Basketball Club.
Menglait Basketball Club’s Allen Salvador inspired his team to launch a highly-spirited comeback in the third quarter for a second successive game having trimmed a deficit and looked on course of meeting their requirement.
The third quarter saw Menglait enjoying an assault in the offence and keeping a shutout in defence as Jauhali and Danilo Felicilda traded a collection of points.
Tutong rose in the fourth quarter with some great plays illustrated by one incident when Menglait was destined for a fast break.
Darren Yap stole the ball from the middle of the court and a team-mate secured the two points and the bonus of a free throw which enabled them to get an upper hand over Menglait, whose hopes of an 11-point target had been evaporated.
Tutong momentarily led the top of Group ‘A’ with six points after four games before tournament contenders YTE took on the court for the second game.
As the first team to complete group stage play, Tutong will now have a much-needed break before they resume their campaign in the quarter-finals, which is scheduled next week.
Cleanwash Laundry players who were courtside, faced the possible prospect of elimination had Menglait performed a dramatic turnaround, but were greeted with positive news just before they teed off against YTE in the second match of the night.