Barracudas shoot for second straight win

REGGIE LARRY hopes to come up with another sterling performance and help the Brunei Barracudas win their first back-to-back wins in the Asean Basketball League (ABL) today against Thailand Tigers at the Nimibutr National Stadium in Bangkok.

"I believe that we have the confidence to beat them as we had some really good practices earlier in the week in preparation for them (Tigers). But we know that it's not going to be easy. They were beating us the whole game (last Saturday) so we have to be prepared," said Larry in an interview with The Brunei Times yesterday.

"We need this win to give us more confidence and a little more comfort before we head into the two week break," added the former Boise State player.

However, the 6ft 6in forward, won't be doing it alone but will be counting on his teammates to step it up a notch to lead the team for victory.

"I want to get my teammates involved in the game even more.

"We need the team to be confident to shoot the ball and be in the open spots when I drive because I think that they will try to clot the middle up and maybe double team a little bit," said Larry.

"But if they do double me then that means Mike (Pilgrim) is going to have an even bigger game than last week," added the 23-year-old American.

Pilgrim had an impressive 16-point performance together with 15 rebounds to his name in his first game starting at the centre position after the departure of seven-footer Lonnie Jones.

However, it was Larry who sparkled for the Barracudas when he put up 32 points and dished out six assists to lead the team to their first victory at home with a 91-86 triumph over the Tigers last Saturday.

"With my performance last week I hope they will put all their attention on me because all that means is that my teammates are going to be ready to step up and they will because we are still a team and we're in this together. That's what I bring to this team," said Larry.

"Scoring 32 points last week was great but I was more happy with my six assists. That might have been the most I have ever had in a game before and that felt great. I really don't care about the points," added Larry.

"I mean I love to score but at the end of the day it's about getting the win and doing whatever it takes to win and that's what I did last week and hope to do so again tomorrow (Sunday)," continued Larry.

Barracudas head coach Bong Ramos is expecting the Tigers to come out a different side because of home court advantage.

"We need to stay focused and try not to be distracted by the crowd because we cannot do anything about that," explained Ramos.

Ramos noted sharp-shooters Ratdech Kruatiwa and Attaporn Lertmalaiporn as the main weapons of Thailand. He also named Ikenna Nwankwo, who was his former player at Aspac in the Indonesian Basketball League (IBL), to step up once again.

"Nwankwo is good player and he will definitely be one of the key players for the Tigers," said Ramos.

The game is scheduled to tip off at 4pm.

The other match will see the Singapore Slingers play hosts to the visiting KL Dragons at the Singapore Indoor Stadium slated to begin at the same time.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Patriots easily defeated Satria Muda BritAma 74-56 yesterday at the Fil Oil Flying V Arena in the Philippines.

Jerwin Gaco led the Patriots with 13 points while American import, Jason Dixon grabbed a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. On the other hand, Rony Gunawan topscored for Satria Muda with 11 points to a losing cause.

The Brunei Times