Barracudas slay Patriots

Yee Chun Leong

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

Monday, December 14, 2009

THE Barracudas turned a mission impossible into mission accomplished yesterday beating favourites the Philippine Patriots 95-70 to register their first back-to-back victories in the Asean Basketball League (ABL) at the Indoor Stadium of the Hassanal Bolkiah National Sports Complex in Berakas.

The defeat is only the Patriots' second having been beaten by the Singapore Slingers 74-69 back in October.

With an all-round offence, all of the Barracudas' imports were in double figures.
The American duo of Mike Pilgrim and Reggie Larry each had game-highs of 20 points while Don Camaso and Leo Avenido contributed 18 points each. Captain Francis 'Kiko' Adriano chipped in 13 points.

In contrast, only two players were in double figures for the Patriots with Jason Dixon scoring 14 points and hauling down 10 rebounds for a double-double and Dino Daa putting 10 points on the scoresheet in a losing effort.
The Barracudas got off to a blistering start, playing good defence to come up with various defensive stops and open up a nine-point lead at 13-4 in the opening minutes of the game.

However, the Patriots replied with a full court pressure and eventually snatched the lead from the Barracudas taking a 21-20 advantage into the second quarter.
Brunei's first professional basketball team were made to worry after Pilgrim suffered a left shoulder injury towards the end of the first period keeping him from starting the second stanza.

The Patriots exploited the absence of the 6ft 9in American by penetrating the paint for points and were dominating the boards at both ends of the court. Read More…

Source: The Brunei Times | photos: BruneiBasketball.com