White Heaven in q-finals

WHITE HEAVEN posted a 69-57 victory over Auto Jaya last night to advance to the quarter-finals of the 2009 Brunei Pepsi Cup at the Brunei Basketball Association (BBA) court in Batu Bersurat.

A good shooting performance by Vincent Superio and Erwin Veles, who combined for 43 points, saw White Heaven withstand a resilient Auto Jaya team, who bounced back brilliantly after a crushing 91-41 defeat by Babes Boutique recently.

Both teams started out equally but White Heaven had taken a small cushion going into the second quarter with the scores at 21-14.

But Auto Jaya came back stronger in the second quarter Kenny Lim Teck Wei carrying his team with 13 points in the period. Lim's superb display helped his team head into the interval in the lead 37-28.

Auto Jaya were outrebounding their opponents for second chance points that helped them grab the lead.

White Heaven seemed to have lost their composure and couldn't convert at the offensive end of the floor to only put seven points on the scoreboard in the second period.

After halftime, White Heaven knew what had to be done and bounced back in the third period to tie the game at 37 a piece with seven minutes left. Superio again led the way contributing nine points in the quarter.

Both teams exchanged baskets from then on as neither could build a lead over the other.

Lim, who finished with 26 points, continued his shooting form to help keep his team within reach of their opponents.

White Heaven tried to take charge in the final quarter, but Auto Jaya kept pushing.

But with three minutes left in the game Auto Jaya started to tire and White Heaven took this opportunity to open up a 10-point lead at 65-55. And they never looked back.

"I thought we were very lucky tonight (Thursday). We committed too many turnovers but we managed to keep our focus," said Veles, coach-cum-player of White Heaven.

"It was really important for us to win this game ... we needed it to advance to the next round," he added.

Veles, who contributed 21 points, continued: "My teammates respect me as a coach and they follow my instructions. For this game some players had less playing time and they understood the situation. I hope they will get more time on court so that in the long run everyone can contribute, but most importantly the starters remain efficient for every game."

Asked about their strategy for their next game against Babes Boutique on Aug 14, Veles replied: "I've told my manager that we need to practise everyday from now on. The ball is round so anything can still happen. I just need to motivate them and we'll try our best to grab the win."

Earlier, Muara Gas defeated Sally Beauty Saloon 69-32 to hand Sally Beauty Saloon their second consecutive defeat in the women's game.

Today's games will see favourites LinkTech take on KOF at 7pm followed by Afima Express going up against Chop Eng Seng Keo Pinoy Resources at 8.30pm.The Brunei Times