Patriots snuff out Dragons’ fire in KL for third consecutive victory
By Les Tan
Chris Lonichi of the KL Dragons lays up for two. Lonichi had a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds. (Photo 1 © Ted Adnan Photography)
Kuala Lumpur, Sunday, November 15, 2009 – The KL Dragons went down 63-73 to the visiting Philippine Patriots in Round 6 of the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL).
Trailing by three (31-34) at half-time, the Dragons exploded in a 23-14 third quarter.
Dragon Li Wei Chee hit a two to tie it up 35-35 at 7:29 in the third and led by as many as eight on the back of a two-pointer by Roel Hugnatan before closing out the third quarter six points ahead at 54-48.
One three-pointer each in the third quarter by the Malaysian trio of Chuan Chin Wee, Shee Fai Loh and Guganeswaran contributed nine out of the 23-point third quarter Dragon performance.
However, the Dragons lost their fire in the fourth quarter as the Patriots put together an 11-4 run, which included a Warren Ybanez three-pointer, to take back the lead at 59-58 with 5:17 left on the clock.
From here on in, the Dragons could only convert one of five field goal attempts and missed three of four three-point attempts.
Dragons coach Goh Cheng Huat understood how close they had come in the game.
“We were trailing by just three points (63-66) in the last three minutes of the match but poor shooting let us down,” a disappointed coach Goh told The Star Online.
Patriot Jason Dixon put together a 17-point, 16-rebound performance while Dragon Chris Lonichi had 11 points and 13 rebounds.
“It was a scary win, good thing we recovered our bearing in the fourth period,” Patriots coach Louie Alas was quoted as saying on philstar.com. “This is a wake-up call for the players. They can’t take anyone in the tournament lightly.”
Quarter by Quarter Scores
Dragons vs Patriots
1st Q: 13-19
2nd Q: 18-15
3rd Q: 23-14
4th Q: 9-25
KL Dragons Game Box Score
| # | Name | PTS | FG | 3PT | FT | OR | DR | TR | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | MIN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wee Chuan Chin | 3 | 1/1 | 1/1 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 8:55 |
| 3 | *Chris Daniel Kuete Lonichi | 13 | 6/18 | 0/4 | 1/5 | 2 | 9 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 34:35 |
| 5 | Ho Yeow Loong | 0 | 0/1 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1:33 |
| 10 | Rudy Lingganay | 10 | 3/10 | 1/3 | 3/5 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 37:09 |
| 12 | Bandaying Fhadzmir | 6 | 2/8 | 0/5 | 2/2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 19:38 |
| 14 | Koh Way Tek | 1 | 0/1 | 0/1 | 1/2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3:38 |
| 18 | Roel Hugnatan | 10 | 5/10 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 17:41 |
| 20 | *Loh Shee Fai | 9 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 0/0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 16:54 |
| 24 | Chai Chze Hian | DNP | ||||||||||||
| 30 | *Jamal Daryl Brown | 0 | 0/4 | 0/0 | 0/4 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 21:41 |
| 33 | *Chee Li Wei | 2 | 1/3 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 12:23 |
| 88 | *Guganeswaran S. Batumalai | 9 | 2/4 | 2/4 | 3/3 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 25:53 |
| total | 63 | 23/65 | 7/24 | 10/21 | 11 | 27 | 38 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 19 | 200 |
Philippine Patriots Game Box Score
| # | Name | PTS | FG | 3PT | FT | OR | DR | TR | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | MIN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | *Brandon Charles Powell | 17 | 6/11 | 2/6 | 3/4 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 29:13 |
| 3 | *Warren Ybanez | 8 | 3/8 | 2/5 | 0/0 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 31:05 |
| 5 | *Robert Wainwright | 3 | 1/7 | 1/4 | 0/0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 20:15 |
| 8 | Val Acuna | 5 | 2/7 | 1/4 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 19:45 |
| 9 | *Elmer Espiritu | 6 | 3/7 | 0/2 | 0/0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 13:26 |
| 14 | Khasim Mirza | 0 | 0/2 | 0/2 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2:26 |
| 15 | Dino Daa | 2 | 1/3 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5:46 |
| 16 | Jerwin Gaco | DNP | ||||||||||||
| 21 | Siverino Baclao Jr | 8 | 3/7 | 0/1 | 2/4 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 21:15 |
| 27 | Froilan Baguion | 7 | 2/5 | 0/1 | 3/6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 21:03 |
| 34 | Erwin Romme Sta.Maria | 0 | 0/1 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3:29 |
| 42 | *Jason Lamar Dixon | 17 | 6/12 | 0/0 | 5/9 | 4 | 12 | 16 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 32:17 |
| total | 73 | 27/70 | 6/26 | 13/23 | 17 | 29 | 46 | 9 | 5 | 0 | 11 | 18 | 200 |
Jamal Brown (Dragons, #30) sets up the screen to thwart Warren Ybanez of the Patriots to make space for teammate Rudy Lingganay (#10). (Photo 2 © Ted Adnan Photography)
ABOUT THIS AUTHOR
another convincing 10 point win for the patriots…
I won’t say its convincing at all, that would be an assumption. From watching the game (which was televised), you could see KL gave a good fight, and led by 6 before collapsing in the fourth quarter due to poor free throw shooting and bad shot selection. Rudy Lingganay and Chris Kuete played really well, for 3 quarters. Credit to Jason Dixon, he was unstoppable in the closing minutes.
then compare it to the slinger win against satria muda
then we can say that it will be a close game between kl dragons and slingers.. Brown was a mismatch to dixon.lingganay is a prolific pointguard.Speedy and can create situation too.
i have posting this site in several filipino basketball forums… hope some visit this site to show their support to the PP…
“then compare it to the slinger win against satria muda”. And your point is? Two teams beating different opponents is a judgement of how ‘dominant’ they are? I just don’t get it. I have nothing against you but nothing I saw from that game was convincing. I’m not taking credit away from the Patriots, they fought hard and won deservingly but why are u taking the other game into this conversation?
Gaco did not play
aren’t you bragging that the slinger win was more dominating than that of the pp win…
Please peel your eyes, my friend. “I won’t say its convincing at all,” Is there ANY mention of the Slingers whatsoever? I was watching the pp vs dragons game on tv and I was giving my honest thoughts. If you aren’t open minded about it, there’s nothing I can do..
@Gordon, because they have a hard time differentiating which team is playing which team probably. Totally NO link!
i am just following slingerrocks example… he is my idol you know
The pressure is off, and Smart Gilas coach Rajko Toroman said the team is now playing “much better.”
Smart Gilas scored its first win in the KFC-Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup on Friday, beating Coca-Cola, 98-93, in its first match since the league declared as no-bearing its games in the All-Filipino tournament.
“We are playing much better than in our first three games and I hope we’ll get better as the tournament progresses,” said Toroman.
Smart Gilas was clobbered by Burger King (105-115), Talk ’N Text (70-103) and Barangay Ginebra (72-100) before the guest team’s games were downgraded to exhibition matches.
Gilas’s next assignment is Sta. Lucia Realty on Friday at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City.
“We want to improve each game and that’s what we want to accomplish here,” said Toroman, tasked to spearhead the country’s goal to return to the Olympics in 2012 in London.
Toroman is also glad to see CJ Giles back after taking a leave to attend to his ailing four-year-old son Jaden in the US. Giles scored 11 points against the Tigers.
The Serbian coach is also hoping the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) can convince University of the East (UE) guard Paul Lee and Junmar Fajardo of University of Cebu to join his pool.
“It’s not in our control but I hope their handlers will allow them to play for us. This is for the country,” he said.
Toroman admitted their games may not be as exciting now that the matches have been reduced to friendlies, but he said the team has to live with that and they just have to maximize their stint.
“Our priority is to make it to the Olympics and hope that we have a good showing in the 2011 Fiba [International Basketball Federation] Asia Championship,” said Toroman. “The real tests for us are the international tournaments.”
After the PBA stint, Smart Gilas will compete in the Haarlem basketball tournament next month where they will play against national and club teams from Russia, the Netherlands, Brazil and South America.
“That’s a tough tournament and I hope we can learn so many things there for the good of the team,” he said.
The team is also scheduled to play in an invitational tournament in Dubai in January against the region’s emerging basketball powers, including Iran, Syria and Lebanon.
Way to change the subject.
@jake, Gaco did not play? so? seriously, so? Didn’t you say that don’t give excuses?
And GILAS lost their last game against the Sta. Lucia Realtors (95-94) after leading by 15.
Maybe next ABL season, GILAS will play in the ABL.
Going back to ABL:
So far, there’s no Patriot local assuming some scoring load.
Maybe if UE gets eliminated early in the Collegiate Chamions League, Paul Lee can join the Patriots.
As some pinoys have pointed out, how do they expect the ABL to gain popularity when tv coverage is very scarce?
accdg to them the game was not even covered by Channel 5 (owned by 1 of the Patriot’s team owner).
How do you expect the ABL to be popular if the Straits Times only wrote a teeny little article about the Slingers win. There wasn’t even the mention that it was an amazing comeback.
Congratulations to our fellow ASEAN and my fellow Filipino, Manny Pacquiao! 12th round 55 second TKO over Miguel Cotto makes him a 7 DIVISION TITLE HOLDER.. Better than any boxer in the world.. Is Mayweather next? Only the PACMAN KNOWS..^__________,^
Gilas joining the ABL? Great idea! That way they can practice against teams using TRUE FIBA rules.. Yes, PRACTICE!;p
Now about the win, it was an IMPRESSIVE win but not a PRETTY win by the Patriots..
….While Manny Pacquiao’s win is already posted in Straits Times onli ne just few hours after the bout.
I think Les and company should just compose their own report and send it to straits times.
@jake- stanley pringle will be joining the smart gilas come december because his contract with the eurolegue will expire then. also on march, Chris lutz will permanently play to smart gilas-unless he will be drafted in the NBA.by the way dont worry about their skid in the PBA, it is very clear that they are not taking it seriously as a team. CJ giles is seldom used..they focused more on guards.Toroman is polishing our guards, anyway pringle and lutz is part of the first five, let us see if how they play when their team will be completed nxt year in preparation to jones cup and the asian games..On one hand, ray ray parks failed to join the PHilippine UNder 16 basketball team bec his school did not allow him to be excused..He is the number 1 high school basketball player in the whole memphis..HE plans to join memphis univ in college.Hes an NBA prospect, a filipino american.. Hes a 123 combo player. Two years from now hes expected to reach at least 6’7. HE played like carmelo anthony but he has a good shooting touch than his father.
@ slingerrocks i am not making excuses, the pp won right. i just want to point out that they would have done better with gaco in the game…
I post one short blurb on this game yesterday evening, come back the next day and there are 21 comments already.
Amazing.
I can’t keep up with you guys.
The pp and the smart gilas had a pre ABL game before, the pp without gaco and espiritu, PP lost 87 to 66
Guganeswaran is best pg in ASEAN, beats all Philippino pg!!!!!!!!!!
im really sensing that the PBA is in slump…i really wish the league internationalize and hire asian players…china’s CBA is doing it and likewise japan’s BJ league…the PBA should also follow suite and stop the backward mentality of FILIPINO dominance in ASIA…sony barios open your eyes hommie its time to integrate with ASIA…and stop the hiring of 6’4 imports and just have unlimited height american imports plus ASIAN players…ABL is a good league to start the internationalization of Philippine BAsketball
why i think this teams will dominate the ABL
Slingers- they have the best imports so far, KJ and MLB. they had the longest and best preparation for ABL, 3 months of rooster revamping and practice games… the singapore challenge was a great help in preparation for ABL. They have an established financial backing and sponsorship, greenfields milk for example. they have the longest continues history, Canberra Cannons(1979-2002/03),Hunter Pirates(2003/04-2005/06),Singapore Slingers(2006/07-2007/08), the franchise changed it’s name thrice. They play in the best indoor stadium during their home games.
PP- They have the best local talent. they have a deep bench and excellent rotation with the addition of acuna, baclao and espiritu. dixon is improving and regaining his old form. they become better and better as the games drag on, they start to blend.
KL dragons- their revamped rooster with its additions Rudy Lingganay and Fhadzmir Bandaying who played for University of East Red Warriors in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines, as well as Chris Daniel Kuete Lontchi who represented Cameroon in the 2007 FIBA Africa Championship for Men are just starting, they are the team to watch…
cj giles is already out of the PHilippine natl team and smart gilas. Hewill be replaced by 6’11 nba player jamal sampson although the replacement is not yet final. Theyr scouting a legitimate and solid 7footer.
Good! Please Slingers sign CJ Giles for the next season. I want to see him play alongside KJ. TWIN TOWERS!
@jack how did that happen? didn’t he return?
Wishing all the best for CJ.. Hope his son will be fine.. And I hope he settle his attitude/personal problem.. Thank you for helping the NT..
Noli Eala to ANC: CJ Giles is out of Smart Gilas. Next target 4 naturalization is Jamal Sampson
@slingerrocks,
You’re not satisfied with MLB’s play?
Even if (this is an “IF” )Giles is better than MLB in terms of talent, the team still has to consider the team chemistry. They have to make sure it will not hamper any development amassed by the locals.
On Gilas,
They should start thinking of sending the 2 CEBU big boys (Fajardo and Slaughter) and the other 6’7″ guys (Ballesteros and Sison) to some Big Man’s camp in the United States. Just in case they fail to acquire a big man to naturalise. I hope 6’10 Gian Chiu is able to join the team also.
I like what I saw in the 2 photos in this article. NO EMPTY SEATS!! – (at least in the photos, can anyone confirm/verify if the stadium is filled to the rafters?). And which team has the bigger crowd support in the game?
@mart, no, I didn’t say I’m not satisfied with MLB. I’m just saying that it would be great to have a player like CJ Giles on the Slingers team, considering he played alongside Kyle Jeffers before.
By the way, where is the 6’9 Mark Andaya and Christian Coronel? Not in the team anymore?
@ SLINGERROCKS:-Mark Andaya is not with the Patriots anymore,He was cut.
And about PG Christian Coronel,i think he is injured..
@adrax thanks
The Patriots win over the Dragons was not convencing. The Patriots’ win over the lousy Singapore Sliners was convencing.
Congratulations to the PHilippine under 16 natl basketball team for winning their 1st game against Japan in the fiba u-16 tourney in malaysia. the score is 64-59. keiffer ravena led his team with 25 points.This shooting guard,point guard was offered to play in us div 1 school but he turned it down, he loved to play college hoops in the philippines.Hes offerd by duke anyway.
The philippine u-16 team is without the 6’514y0 rayray parks who is not xcused by his high school.he could have played the point guard,shooting guard,off guard,power forward or even center in the team. His scoring and defense will be definitely missed..hes their number 1 player.
@jack,
Who’s your source on Ravena getting some offers from US NCAA Div 1 school(s). DUKE? Ray Parks was not even offered to play for Duke, I don’t think this is true. I find it hard to believe Duke will open up a space for Kiefer when the best high school players in the US would love to play in that program.
You’ve been hanging out with Jimmy too much!! = D
the rp under 16 team win their 2nd again against tall kazakhstan 76-50.for the 2nd straight game keifer ravena scored 23pts,3asts and 4steals.followed by von rolfe pessumal with 12pts. the kazakhs was led by alexey kurochka with 16pts.tomoro they will battle bahrain who was previously beatin by the kazakhs.
the philippines under 16 sweep the preliminaries by beating bahrain 62-45…cj giles is signed by al riyadi lebanese team. and probably naturalized to play for lebanon,
In the summer of 2009 Gilas invited for try-out, other US- and Canada-based players also scrimmaged with the team. They included 6’9″ center Gian Chiu of Oberlin College, 6’4″ guard Chris Lutz of Marshall, 6’3″ guard Marcio Lassiter of Cal State – Fullerton and 6’5″ forward Sean Anthony of McGill. However, NCAA eligibility rules do not allow them to enter into contracts with other teams until they graduate…So you see once they finish thier study in U.S. this player will be part of the pilipinas smart gilas team.