Poor execution, foul trouble led to Barracudas downfall: Ramos

POOR execution down the stretch and foul trouble were the reasons why the Brunei Barracudas lost 66-77 to the Thailand Tigers last Sunday in the Asean Basketball League (ABL) at the Nimibutr National Stadium in Bangkok.

"We just didn't execute in the end game. We had managed to get a lead as large as 14 points in the third but suddenly the momentum changed and they came back," said coach Bong Ramos in an interview with The Brunei Times yesterday.

"We lost out on the field goal percentage. Despite shooting poorly we still managed to take the lead but it was down to the final minutes of the game that let us down," added Ramos.

Brunei's first professional basketball team were shooting a miserable 31 per cent from the field making 28 out of 91 attempts whereby, in contrast, the Tigers shot 52 per cent making 31 out of 60 attempts.

The Barracudas head coach also pointed out that they were equal on the stats sheet but lost out to early foul trouble.

"The stats were quite equal but we lost out on the fouls. We had to play on when (Francis) Kiko (Adriano), Mike (pilgrim) and Leo (Avenido) got into foul trouble early," said Ramos. "Don (Camaso) stepped up and we managed to extend our lead while Mike was on the bench but it was just very disappointing for us to lose the game."

When asked on whether stamina affected their game, Ramos replied: "Stamina was not a problem in the game but I think some of the players may be tired from all the travelling as we needed around one hour and 15 minutes to get our destination for practices. It was hard for the boys to sacrifice themselves but we gave it our best fight all the way in the game."

Ramos has put the loss behind him and is now focusing on their next game against the visiting KL Dragons on Dec 9.

"We'll take a break for a bit as I know the players need to recover before we start practice. We know we have to work on our field goal percentage and also our defence," said Ramos.

Barracudas new American import, Reggie Larry, was a stark contrast to his 32-point and six-assist performance in their first home win on Nov 14. He produced 15 points and 11 rebounds for a double-double but shot six for 27 from the field.

"He was shaken up with a minor injury as he fell to the ground with a hacking foul by one of our opponents in the first quarter. We couldn't sit him and he had to continue playing but he found difficulty scoring," explained Ramos. "We will just have to look forward and correct our mistakes from the game. We cannot stay on the loss but learn from it and bounce back."

Larry believes that this is a good time for them to bounce back as well with the extra week.

"We are going to relax our bodies while everyone else is playing. We are going to work on getting better as a team and continue to work hard and take it from there. We have home court advantage and this is the key to the game. We want to make the playoffs, we cannot afford another loss at home," added the 23-year-old.The Brunei Times