Barracudas snuff out Dragons' fire

IT was sweet revenge for the Barracudas staging a late show to defeat the KL Dragons 80-63 last night in their Asean Basketball League (ABL) match at the Indoor Stadium of the Hassanal Bolkiah National Sports Complex in Berakas.

Their second straight victory at home, Leo Avenidez topscored for the Barracudas with 24 points and Mike Pilgrim added a double-double with 20 points and 15 rebounds.

The Barracudas' other American import Reggie Larry also contributed a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds to his name.

Chris Kuete led the Dragons with a game-high 24 points and hauled down 17 boards for his double-double while Roel Hugnatan chipped in 12 points to a losing cause.

Having started the final stanza with a 59-53 edge, the Barracudas played good defence and were making their shots down the stretch as they extended their lead to as much as 18 points.

The momentum had clearly shifted as the Dragons couldn't find any rhythm on offence. They were outscored 10-21 in the period to allow the Barracudas to cruise to victory.

Last night was the third time the two teams had met with the Barracudas picking up their first victory in the inaugural league with a 94-76 win over the Dragons at the Maba Stadium on Oct 14 in their first meeting.

The Dragons then gained revenge with a 76-73 triumph at the Brunei Indoor Stadium on Oct 18 in their second meeting.

"Our performance was great as we didn't stop throughout the game and helped each other out. We even got some lucky shots but it was good to grab the win," said Avenido in an interview with The Brunei Times yesterday.

"We came here prepared and we needed to win as a loss would leave us at the bottom of the standings. We will now have to take it one game at a time ... there's a difficult task ahead of us to make it to the playoffs," added the 6ft, 1in point guard.

The Barracudas got off to a quick start making their first three baskets to take a 6-0 advantage in the first two minutes.

However, the Dragons got into the game midway through the period as the scoreboards read 13-11 in favour of the Barracudas.

It was a see-saw battle between the two teams as they exchanged baskets throughout the rest of the quarter but the Barracudas kept their lead at 22-19 going into the second period.

It was the same story in the second quarter with the Barracudas maintaining their three-point cushion at 45-42 heading into halftime.

Pilgrim was having a good post-up game against the smaller Jamal Brown as he and Larry led the Barracudas with 12 points at halftime.

On the other hand, Kuete was carrying the Dragons on offence driving to the hoop with his quick first step to finish with almost a double-double with 18 points and nine rebounds.

The tempo of the game was slowed down in the third quarter, but the Barracudas played good defence to shut Kuete down.

A minor scuffle broke out midway through the third period as Hugnatan elbowed Larry in the abdomen area. The American was lucky to get away with a flagrant foul after he replied with a swing at the Filipino sending him to the floor.

That was the spark needed by the Barracudas as it brought the crowd into the game. The Dragons were not helped by their turnovers as they fell further behind at 59-53 going into the fourth quarter.

"I give credit to the guys as they really wanted to win this game. I'm just here to guide them but all the credit goes to them," said Bong Ramos, the Barracudas head coach, in an interview after the match.

"They had watched the game where the (Thailand) Tigers defeated the (Singapore) Slingers and they needed the win knowing that they are at the bottom of the table," added Ramos.

"So they came out wanting to take it and got it after all their sacrifices over the past two weeks," continued the 48-year-old Filipino.

The ex-Indonesia coach was also delighted that the team were not rusty and pointed out that the key to last night's victory was their defence to keep Kuete at bay in the second half.

On the other hand, Dragons head coach, Goh Cheng Huat, felt that they threw the game away.

"We just played badly. Our opponents came out strong and tough and were patient in their game. They scored when they needed to and we couldn't catch up," said Goh.

The win allowed the Barracudas to leapfrog the Dragons into fifth place despite being tied with a 3-5 win-loss record with 11 points.

The Philippine Patriots lead the six-team table with 15 points followed by the Slingers and Satria Muda BritAma with 13 points. The Tigers are in fourth with 12 points.

The Barracudas will next play host to the Patriots on Sunday.The Brunei Times