Barracudas back at office

THE Barracudas were back in full swing yesterday with all players on their roster attending a training session at the Brunei Basketball Association court in Batu Bersurat.

It was their first training session after the 70-56 loss to the Philippine Patriots in their Asean Basketball League (ABL) match at the Ynares Sports Arena in Manila on Dec 21.

Brunei's first professional basketball team are now in fifth place in the six-team ABL standings holding identical 4-6 win-loss record as the KL Dragons and fighting for a slot in the playoffs. Only the top four teams advance to the playoffs which will start on Jan 30.

Francis "Kiko" Adriano, the captain of the Barracudas, feels that the team could have been in a better position in the standings.

"The previous match (against the Patriots) was a must win game. Victory in Manila would definitely be a major boost for the team," said Adriano in an interview with The Brunei Times yesterday.

"Victory would also place us in fourth tied with the Thailand Tigers but we are dealing with it and putting the loss behind us," added Adriano.

On what needed to be improved, the 34-year-old Filipino said: "There's always room for improvement, but most importantly we just have to make sure that everyone is not complacent after the break. We will just have to keep practising and try to win the rest of our games for a run to the playoffs."

The Barracudas have five more games to play in the regular season.

Adriano tells his teammates to focus on themselves rather than the other teams in the league.

"Our target is the top four and we know that every team want to make it. Every game is a must win for us but we will take it slowly and take it one game at a time," said the team's Filipino captain.

The Barracudas will be forced to work extra hard without even a break to celebrate the new year as they continue their campaign on Jan 4 against the Thailand Tigers at the Nimibutr Indoor Stadium in Bangkok.

Favourites, the Patriots, lead the six-team table heading into the new year with a league best 9-2 record with 20 points. The Filipinos are just two wins away from securing the top seed and home court advantage going into the playoffs.

Satria Muda BritAma are not far behind in second place with a 6-5 record with 17 points followed by the Singapore Slingers being the only other team above the .500 mark with a 6-4 record and 16 points.

The Tigers are in fourth position with a 3-9 record for 15 points.

The league continues with the KL Dragons playing host to Satria Muda on Jan 2 at the MABA Stadium in Kuala Lumpur.The Brunei Times