Warriors maul El Tigre Marshalls

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

Friday, November 13, 2009

WARRIORS notched up the first win of their LBC Cup campaign with a 115-84 mauling of El Tigre Marshalls last night in Group A of the regular seven stars category at the Brunei Basketball Association court in Batu Bersurat.

Jeff Paraiso had a game-high 23 points to lead Warriors and Allan Caringal poured in 20 points.

On the other hand, Joemel Xlo led El Tigre Marshalls with 19 points and Romel Valmores chipped in 17 points to a losing cause.

It was full court pressure defence in the third quarter that saw the Warriors outscore their opponents 26-4 to open up an unassailable 77-58 lead that led to the blowout victory.

"Actually our opponents didn't have enough players and I think that they lost their motivation midway through the game. We saw their lack of bench and gained confidence as we adjusted our defence which helped us win the game," said Mike Juan, the playing coach of the Warriors.

Both teams started well as Warriors were attacking the low post by penetrating to the hoop.

El Tigre Marshalls, meanwhile, were relying on their fastbreaks and perimeter shooting to keep them in the game. But they were still down 19-24 going into the second quarter.

El Tigre Marshalls came out storming in the second period and quickly established a 40-32 lead midway through the period.

Warriors couldn't find any rhythm on offence and were making unforced turnovers.

However, the tides turned in the final minutes of the quarter as the Warriors began to put up a water tight defence closing the quarter with a 14-4 run that saw them sit on top 54-51 heading into halftime.
"I was quite disappointed with our first half but it was good that the players decided to step up in the second half to win the game," said Juan.

In the day's earlier match, guest team AKK Design picked up their third straight victory in the 45 years old and above category with an 80-49 demolition of Nueva Ecija Patriot. Abellsto San Antonio led AKK Design with 23 points while Manolito Macale topscored for Nueva Ecija Patriot with 16.





Source: The Brunei Times | photos: BruneiBasketball.com