By Goh De No in Brunei

The Brunei Barracudas pipped Satria Muda BritAma 85-81 at home last weekend to keep the pressure on the KL Dragons in their fight for the fourth and final ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) playoff spot. A momentous home victory over Singapore Slingers tonight will seal off the elusive spot.

Prior to the match up against Satria Muda, the Barracudas needed to win two of their remaining three games to seize the final playoff spot should the KL Dragons win both their home games. Barracudas played like every possession was their last to dispose of the Indonesian Basketball League (IBL) champions.

Barracudas coach Bong Ramos said his team’s in-game adjustments were the key to their victory.

“We doubled down low on Nakiea (Miller) and they weren’t making their threes. The team executed exactly as I’ve instructed,” Ramos said.

The former Indonesia national team coach admitted that there were some lapses at times when point-guard Leo Avenido and team-captain Francis ‘Kiko’ Adriano were too eager to pile on the attack.

“But we are all adjusting,” Ramos shared, “and the team played smart and we communicated well.”

Satria Muda had in fact dominated for most of the game as their full court press strategy was forcing turnovers and gaining easy baskets.

Satria Muda’s head coach Fictor Roring admitted: “The Barracudas played well and we did not execute the game as well as I had hope to.”

“The full court press was part of our game plan and paid off to some extent especially in the beginning but in the second quarter we stopped the press and maybe, that gave them more momentum,” Roring added.

The Barracudas, as usual, relied heavily on their imports which saw three of them playing the full 40 minutes and all five scoring double figures as Coach Bong used only a six-player rotation for the entire game on Saturday.

“I salute the players and their stamina. Although I didn’t use the players on the bench, I know they are dying to contribute and their moral support was much needed,” said Ramos.

The Barracudas coach added that their win over Satria Muda leaves them in a good position for making the playoffs as the pressure is now on the KL Dragons to get the win.

“KL’s position is now crucial, they have to win. If they lose, they’re out,” stressed Ramos.

Celedon Camaso, who finished the game with 16 points, proved to be the x-factor for the Barracudas, hitting 4-of-9 from beyond the arc to stretch the Indonesian defence.

With the game tied just under six minutes in the third quarter, Camaso came off the bench to sink a trey giving the Barracudas the momentum to pull away Satria Muda.

In the fourth quarter, with three minutes on the clock, Avenido set Mike Pilgrim up for a two-handed alley-oop on the fast break, bringing the Barracudas lead to 11, the biggest of the night to seal the game.

“You’ve got to show that every game you play, you have heart and are competing,” said Pilgrim, who led the team with 26 points. “We knew we could beat them and we weren’t going to drop three games to them.”

Satria Muda put on a few scoring runs with American import Nakiea Miller, who led all scorers with 32 points and 16 boards, putting the team on his back and kept his team close by attacking the low-post.

Satria Muda’s other American import, Alex Hartman, had an inefficient night, needing 21 shot attempts to register 19 points. A usual threat from range, Hartman was only 1-of-9 from downtown.

Roring said of his team’s miserable 23 per cent from the charity stripe: “We had an off-night with our free-throw shooting, it was the other contributing factor to our loss.”

“We were hoping to finish the league at second place but with this loss I think our chance is gone,” Roring concluded.

With the Slingers going down to neighbours KL Dragons on the same weekend, Satria Muda remain in second spot on the league table and with a final game against the KL Dragons at home this weekend.

Barracudas, on the other hand, improved to six wins and seven losses while winning four straight games at home. A fifth consecutive home victory tonight against the Slingers will give them the coveted playoff ticket.

Slingers had edged out the hosts 82-80 in their last meeting and the visitors will need a win to stand a chance to finish on top of the table. The game will tip-off at 8pm (UTC/GMT+8) at the Brunei Indoor Stadium in Berakas.

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