Barracudas slay Patriots

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.

Pilgrim returned with six minutes left in the period but the Filipinos had extended their lead to 36-31 midway through the quarter.

Each time the Barracudas would rally, the Patriots would answer with a three-pointer as they stayed on top 47-43 going into the locker rooms.

The hosts came out full of confidence in the third stanza and stormed to a 14-0 run to regain the lead at 57-47 midway through the period.

The Patriots couldn't get any rhythm on offence as they were relying on outside shots which were easily handled by the Barracudas' zone defence.

The ABL leaders continued with their full court pressure defence at the defensive end but couldn't contain their opponents who would press break for a 67-58 advantage heading into the final period.

The Barracudas carried that momentum into the fourth quarter making all their shots down the stretch with good passing to further extend their lead.

The Patriots were demotivated making turnovers as they were outscored 11-28 to fall to only their second defeat of the season.

"God put us at the right place at the right time. They were missing their main players (Nonoy Baclao, Elmer Espiritu and Khazim Mirza) which would have been different as they would be bigger in size and have a deeper bench but our players wanted it more and all credit goes to them as they pushed themselves for the victory," said Barracudas head coach Bong Ramos in an interview with The Brunei Times after the win.

Asked what was key to the victory, the 48-year-old Filipino coach said: "It was total team effort and I guess it was our zone defence. But I know that (Patriots) coach Louie (Alas) will adjust when we meet them against next week in the Philippines."

Ramos also gave credit to local players for doing a great job and stepping up at the defensive end.

"They played well and stepped up when Mike was out for a while and Esmond (Tan) hit two crucial three-pointers in the game which was really good," said the ex-Indonesia national coach.

Vice-captain of the Barracudas, Tan, who scored six points, echoed his coach's view on their victory.

"We're getting better as a team and we've become a faster team with the introduction of Reggie (Larry), but I think it was the adjustments that Coach Bong made, to play zone defence, that really killed the Patriots," said Tan.

Meanwhile, Patriots head coach Louie Alas felt that they only had themselves to blame for their biggest loss in the league.

"We beat ourselves today (Sunday). We played with no pride and with no effort," said Alas.

The biggest difference in the game was the story of the free throws. The Barracudas hit 15 of their 26 attempts while the visitors only had three free throws for the whole match all coming in the first quarter.

The win catapults the Barracudas into fourth place in the ABL six-team table with a 4-5 win-loss record with 13 points while the Patriots remain at the top with a 7-2 record on 16 points.

The Brunei Times