LBC Cup: Mordeno's ABMS slay Warriors

Yee Chun Leong

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

Monday, October 19, 2009

FAVOURITES ABMS got their campaign off to a flying start with a 103-74 victory over Warriors in Group A of the LBC Cup at the Brunei Basketball Association court in Batu Bersurat yesterday.

Roldan Binas topscored for ABMS with 26 points and Don Dadis Mordeno poured in 20 points.

On the other hand, Jeff Paraiso led Warriors with 20 points and Efren Espiritu chipped in 15.
Both teams started out with a running game and were neck and neck with ABMS just ahead at 22-20 midway through the opening period.

Espiritu, standing at 6ft 5in, was at the heart of the Warriors' defence coming up with various block shots.

Good transition basketball by Warriors eventually allowed them to take a 30-26 lead into the second quarter.

There was a turn of tides in the second period as ABMS picked up their defence to hold the Warriors scoreless for more than three minutes while they executed on offence.

ABMS quickly grabbed the lead from their opponents racing ahead 45-33 midway through the period. They were boxing out to clean up the boards which allowed them to open up a double-digit lead at 55-44 heading into halftime.
(Ambassador Yano greeted the teams together with BBA officials and FBA president Mr. Mhar Porlahe.)

ABMS started out with a full court pressure defence after the interval. The Warriors succumbed to the pressure to commit turnovers as ABMS went on fastbreaks.

Mordeno caught fire in the third period to put 18 on the scoreboard including four three-pointers.

ABMS opened up an 83-65 lead heading into the final stanza.

Both teams then lost some steam as they couldn't add to the scores for more than two minutes.

However, ABMS continued with their full court pressure to limit their opponents and run away with victory.

Despite notching up a winning margin of 29 points, ABMS head coach, Kaka Espartero, was not satisfied with the team's performance.

"I think we made too many errors and we'll have to further work on our defence," said Espartero.

Asked about what was key to their victory, Espartero replied: "It was the full court pressure down the stretch as we saw that our opponents didn't really have a proper point guard."

In the second match of the day, Aziz Latif & Company (ALC) thrashed Menglait All-Star 93-55.
Twelve teams are competing in the seven stars category with the draw taking place during the opening ceremony yesterday.
ABMS have been drawn into Group A together with another favourites Palm Cafe, Warriors, SOLD, El Tigre Marshalls and Pinoy 1st Edition.

Meanwhile, Group B is made up of Menglait All-Star, ALC, Beaver Engineering, Liga Bumiputera, Morley Movers and GILR Wildcats.

Five teams are competing in the 45 years old and above category IMD A, IMD B, Nueva Ecija Patriot, Young Once and AKK Design.

Organised by the Filipino Basketball Association, the tournament is being held to welcome Alexander Yano, the Philippine Ambassador to Brunei. Present as the guest of honour during the opening ceremony yesterday was the ambassador himself who is competing for Young Once.

Source: The Brunei Times | photo: BruneiBasketball.com