Masashi Joho wanted the ball and he wanted the spotlight.

This, of course, reminds many people of another guy with the same initials.

And then with a Michael Jordan-like flair for the dramatic, Joho carried his team with clutch basket after clutch basket in the game's final moments on Sunday, lifting the Tokyo Apache to a thrilling 98-94 overtime victory over the Rizing Fukuoka at Ariake Colosseum.

Joho's heroic antics began in the closing seconds of the fourth quarter.

With his team trailing 83-81 with 6.8 ticks still on the clock, Joho received a pass from Nick Davis and dribbled through traffic and put up a game-tying layup with 2.4 seconds remaining.

"Today, I wanted to take the last shot," Joho told reporters. "Today is the first time I've taken a big shot in the fourth quarter in high school, college or in the bj-league.

"I tried to answer (the call) in the last moment."

Fukuoka missed a desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer, sending the game to overtime.

That's when Joho took over.

Joho scored 11 of Tokyo's 15 points in the bonus period, causing many of the 2,308 fans in attendance to cheer his name.

It was well-deserved recognition for the Sapporo native.

"I was thinking that I was (shooting) hot, and my confidence improved in overtime," Joho admitted.

Joho's first long-range shot of OT, a fallaway special from the right corner, made it 90-85 with 2:45 left. His second 3-ball made it 93-92. His third, a sweet-sounding swish from the left side, gave Tokyo a 96-94 edge with 28 seconds left.

The Rizing (8-14) opted to try for the win rather than the tie, and couldn't convert a 3-pointer on the other end.

Then Joho was fouled with 2.7 seconds left and he sealed the Apache win with two free throws.

"What a game, an exciting game," said Tokyo coach Joe Bryant, whose team improved to 13-9. "As a fan, you would like to see all the games played that way."

Bryant's nickname for Joho is "Barbosa," in reference to the Phoenix Suns' jittery spark plug Leandro Barbosa, a Brazilian playmaker who can score points in a hurry and provide super-quick defense on the other end of the court.

"I showed faith in Joho for the last shot to tie the game and send it into overtime," Bryant said. "And then from there his eyes got (real) big and he made three 3s in overtime that were huge, because the coaching staff gave him the confidence to be successful."

Joshua Peppers, who entered the weekend as the bj-league's leading scorer (23.8 points per game), scored 32 points in Saturday's 87-82 loss to the Apache. The University of Central Florida product had a 29-point effort on Sunday, but fouled out late in the fourth quarter.

Peppers, though, has been on a super stretch of games on the offensive end. He's scored 28 or more points in nine of his last 10 games. In the other game, on Jan. 19, he had 19.

Fukuoka coach John Neumann said the key for Peppers, who turns 23 in April, to become a great all-around player will be his development — and effort — on defense.

Rizing center Jeffrey Price finished with 26 points and cleared 12 boards. Newcomer Michael Parker added 17 and Tsuyoshi Kawazura added nine. Both players were on the court for 45 minutes for the injury-depleted, first-year team.

Apache All-Star guard John "Helicopter" Humphrey finished with a game-high 31 points and had six assists, four rebounds and four steals in 42 minutes. He made 15 of 21 shots from the field, many coming on driving layups. He also nailed 4 of 6 3-point attempts.

Nick Davis, coming off a 22-point, 21-rebound performance on Saturday had 17 points, 12 rebounds and five assists in the series-ending win.

Dameion Baker added 12 points off the bench for Tokyo and Cohey Aoki, who's been nursing a nagging knee injury (he was limited to seven minutes in Saturday's game), scored eight.