Plaza Sutera Biru give Teik the blues

Plaza Sutera Biru's Lim Aik
Hock goes for a lay-up during the Brunei Basketball Association Open Challenge Trophy game against Teik Goldsmith. Plaza Sutera Biru won 64-56. Picture: BT/Maui Salazar

Jason Thomas
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
Monday, April 12, 2010

PLAZA SUTERA BIRU proved that quality is better than quantity when they booked their place in the semi-final of the Brunei Basketball Association (BBA) Open Challenge Trophy after a 64-56 win over Teik Goldsmith last night.

Despite a severely limited bench — only six players showed up for Plaza Sutera Biru — the ones that did lace up made it count.

It was a must-win game for Teik if they wanted to reach the last four but with Plaza Sutera Biru's advantage in height and experience — Esmond Tan, Ho Hee Lee, Lim Aik Hock and Xavier Fong were in last season's Barracudas team — the shallow bench wasn't a problem.

The win books them a date with 2009 Brunei Pepsi Cup champions Babes Boutique in the last four at 8.30pm tomorrow, and Plaza Sutera Biru's captain admitted that the team will be faced with another incomplete bench.

"A few of our players were overseas and it is most likely we will have only seven players in our next match," said the small-forward who scored his team's last eight points en-route to a game-high 28 points.

"Our defense played well tonight (Sunday) and they (Teik) couldn't break our 3-2 strategy.

"Our height helped us to box out but we will need to step up our defense in our next game," added Tan, who was the vice-captain of the Barracudas' last season.

Fong, Tan and Yam Wan Fung were dominant under the boards and prevented Teik from second-chance points. Leslie Chia scored Plaza
Sutera Biru's first seven points and the team would take a 16-14 lead
into the second quarter.

Teik's captain and Tan's Barracudas teammate, Benjamin Lim, took it upon himself to dictate the play and the match-up between him and Tan was particularly interesting.

However,as a whole, the Teik failed to click and were victim to Plaza Sutera Biru's good play on the break.

Chia missed a three-pointer at the buzzer but Plaza Sutera Biru was still able to enjoy a 29-25 lead after the first half.

Lim Aik Hock's distribution and Plaza Sutera Biru's superior ball rotation helped open up a 47-40 advantage heading into the final stanza, and it was his jumper in the last six minutes which opened up a 10-point lead (53-42). Read More...

Source: The Brunei Times