After five months and 53 games of the maiden ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) season, the league is clearly still imperfect in many ways, but in the end, what mattered most was that ASEAN basketballers proved to be a delight to watch.

Many ASEAN basketball fans have grown up living and breathing the NBA (National Basketball Association) but not many would know that the NBA’s success did not happen overnight and in fact the world’s most popular basketball league was bereft of attention in its first decade.

Yet through the NBA came the invention of the 24-second shot clock that not only breathed life into the league, it revolutionised the entire game altogether. So it is with ABL, it may be uncertain now what changes this league could bring but the signs are already promising.

“Through this ABL, my local players have improved a lot,” said KL Dragons head coach Goh Cheng Huat. “In fact all the local players from Indonesia and Singapore have stepped up. The way I look at it, some of them have caught up with the standard of the Filipino imports.”

Unbeknownst to many, unlike the imports, most local cagers face the challenge of juggling this professional basketball gig and their long-term marketplace career. Currently amongst the local cagers, there are teachers, engineers, undergraduate and postgraduate students.

Brunei Barracudas’ top local player, 25-year-old Esmond Tan, who is an engineer with Shell, said: “Coach Ramos has tried to adjust the trainings for me in the morning and in the evening when I can join the team for trainings. I’m proud of the local players, I kept telling my local players to be ready and we will get the chance to play. We have been improving.”

Filipino coach Bong Ramos, who has extensive coaching experience across ASEAN (in Philippines, Indonesia and now Brunei), echoed coach Goh’s sentiments, he said: “Filipinos have the advantage against any of the ASEAN locals but, because of ABL I think the locals of all Southeast Asian nations will improve because this is a good league for the locals.”

“Except the Filipinos, ABL is the first professional stint for many locals,” coach Ramos added, “but to narrow the gap [between Philippines and the rest of ASEAN] is not only this league, it’s also the training and having a college league like Philippines’ NCAA/UAAP is important.”

A key indicator of the league’s maiden success was how it has managed to attract the top ASEAN coaches. Besides coach Ramos and coach Goh, who are both highly regarded in Philippines and Malaysia respectively, the coaches of the finalists – Fictor Roring of Satria Muda and Louie Alas of Philippine Patriots – are both household names as well.

Coach Alas gave a tongue-in-cheek sharing on why he joined the ABL, he said: “I was coaching Toyota Altis in the Philippine Basketball League while Mikee (Patriots owner) is the owner of Harbour Centre. We fought them twice in the PBL Championship and we lost both times. That’s why when Mikee called me to coach the Patriots, I agreed right away because there is a saying, ‘If you can’t beat them, you join them!’”

Patriots went on to assert their dominance in the league to lift the inaugural title with a 5-0 playoff run, sweeping the KL Dragons 2-0 in the semi-finals and Satria Muda 3-0 in the finals. During the regular season, Patriots beat every team in head-to-head match-ups except the Slingers, which was the only team with a non-ASEAN marshal.

Slingers’ head coach Frank Arsego, who has announced he will not be returning next season so as to spend more time with his family in Canberra, gave his two cents on how local players can be successful through the ABL.

“Listen to your coaches, learn from your coaches, try to be in an environment where you can learn your skills in competition. The players who make it, are the ones who do the extra work outside of their normal environment, they are the ones who go on to be successful,” he said.

To raise their game, the Australian coach shared how the local players have to work extremely hard to be corrected in their techniques and be grounded in high quality fundamentals to execute them under pressure.

Coach Frank shared: “We work very hard during practice to stimulate an environment where there is a lot of pressure where their decision-making under pressure will improve as they go along, and that’s what the good players can do. We’ve got local guys in Slingers, who just through their work ethics have deserved the opportunity to be with the Slingers and because of that, they are going to become better basketballers.”

While many did step up for their teams over the season, Jan has picked the top two locals who have been a surprise ‘spark’ for their team in the 09/10 ABL season and the six local young guns to look out for in the next season. Enjoy!

ABL 09/10 Top Local ‘Spark’ (Playoff and Finals): Rony Gunawan (Satria Muda)

Rony Gunawan was the local name that stood out in the ABL finals between Satria Muda and the Philippine Patriots. While the four American imports were engrossed in a battle of attrition, the Indonesian center completely outclassed the other locals in the finals.

With both Hartman and Miller pinned down by the Patriots’ tough defense, Rony rose from the rubble to finish the game one with 10 points, eight rebounds (55.6% shooting percentage), the second game with 15 points, seven rebounds (58.3% shooting percentage), and top-scored in the final game with 20 points, seven rebounds (72.7% shooting percentage).

Rony’s finals performance epitomised how it is possible for locals to shine and make a statement for themselves amidst the import-driven league.

“Coach gave me a lot minutes to play so I just played and gave my all,” said Rony reflecting on his stunning finals showing that had breathed hope into his team. “I trusted myself and my team mates, and I’ve got nothing to lose because the pressure was not on my team.”

“I think the skills of the local players are not so far from the imports,” said Rony who also shared he looks up to NBA’s Tim Duncan. “Maybe we lose out in size and the strength, but actually we can compete with the imports if we trust ourselves and not fear them.”

“Local players can do more!” said Rony on a concluding note. “They mostly face the problem of confidence and are a bit afraid to play when there is hard, body contact with the imports. But I think the more often they play in this league, they will get used to that, and get better.”

ABL 09/10 Top Local ‘Spark’ (Regular Season): Attaporn Lertmalaiporn (Thailand Tigers)

If numbers do not lie, then without a doubt, Bangkok-born Attaporn Lertmalaiporn is not only Thailand’s best kept secret, his 223 points (14.9 points per game) score card meant that he was the top-scoring local player and not at all inferior to an American import.

Besides being a menacing scoring machine, the left-handed Attaporn was also a natural entertainer with his unorthodox style of play.

“I feel that the way I play has to do with my personality,” said Attaporn who is also pursuing a Masters degree in Physical Education in Thailand concurrently. “I’m a fun-loving person and I feel that my style of basketball has to be enjoyable and entertaining to the spectators.”

“I’ve been playing basketball for 12 years but this is my first time playing in a professional league,” added the 1.93m tall Attaporn. “I’m very grateful for the opportunity. I’ve learnt a lot from the imports and I feel that having them around, my game has improved a lot.”

And finally, the top local young gun of each team to look out for in the next season:

Brunei Barracudas: Esmond Tan

KL Dragons: Loh Shee Fai

Nonoy Baclao (Philippine Patriots)

Christian Ronaldo Sitepu (Satria Muda)

Hong Wei Jian (Singapore Slingers)

Ratdech Kruatiwa (Thailand Tigers)

Editor’s Note: This has been a maiden season of surprises and here’s a shout of thanks to Leslie and Dawn for the opportunity to cover this league; the REDcrew for working so hard under my Cruella-complex; the ABL coaches who taught me heaps about the game; the ABL players for tolerating my endless questions; and the readers for your love-hate relationship with my stories. Enjoy the other stories coming up, til we next “meet”. (jan@redhoops.com)

Kuhan Foo, the chief executive officer of the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL), has revealed that the league will know by April the status of new teams coming on board for the 2010/11 season. He also pointed out that for the existing teams to survive, teams will need to learn to market themselves well.

“The challenge I think is getting teams to market themselves and finding the major support, sponsors, pulling in more crowd and creating a basketball culture,” shared Kuhan at the post-finals press conference.

“We know it is possible,” Kuhan added, “if we look at KL Dragons for example in Malaysia where the crowd is usually Chinese and men, but now their crowd has 40% Malays, 30% women because of the ABL.”

Four of the six ABL teams in the inaugural season are new teams set up in conjunction with the inception of the ABL. Only Indonesia’s Satria Muda BritAma and the Singapore Slingers are existing professional teams with the experience of engaging the community.

It has indeed proven to be a challenge for the new teams to fill the stadiums on game day. Thailand Tigers and Philippine Patriots gave free entry to their home games in a bid to draw in the crowds and drum up the support in their first season.

While the Thailand Tigers, who finished at the bottom of the table in the inaugural season, struggled to bring in the home crowd all season, the Patriots crowd picked up significantly towards the playoffs and finals.

The KL Dragons, singled out by Kuhan as the role model for having done an exceptional job in expanding and diversifying their fan base in their maiden season, credited their fans and media partners for their success.

“I don’t think other teams can do so because they don’t have Malaysian blood in them!” the KL Dragons owners said jokingly when asked how they managed to pack their stadium to the point of having to turn away spectators.

Turning serious, they continued: “I think to be fair, this game, except for Philippines, is quite new to other countries, including Malaysia. I think if you look at any leagues when they have just started, even the NBA, the English Premier League, the crowds were not there either.”

“It takes time to develop these things,” they added. “Give it time to slowly grow, it’s about creating the awareness. It has a lot to do with our media partners as well, we need to say a big thank you to them.”

Besides a massive revamp of their dynamic website mid-season and heavy utilisation of social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, the Kuala Lumpur-based team also organised road trips for their fans to Singapore for their away games.

Indonesia’s Satria Muda is the only other team that had fans travel to an away game. Satria Muda, who have the most number of fans of all the ABL teams, have been actively building their fan base since the team joined the Indonesian Basketball League in 2003. Satria Muda have won four domestic titles since, plus the SEABA Champions Cup in 2008.

Philippine Patriots owner, Mikee Romero, who also owns the Philippine Basketball League (PBL) team, Harbour Center, the team that Satria Muda beat in the 2008 SEABA Champions Cup final, said after the ABL finals: “When we (Harbour Center) played against Satria Muda two years ago, it was a very different team. The level of Indonesian basketball has become higher.”

While the team’s success and progress will be a crowd puller, according to Kuhan, what is essentially more important is the building of a basketball culture, or a culture of identifying ABL as ASEAN’s pride.

While the Philippines have built an unrivaled basketball culture, elsewhere in ASEAN, Malaysians and Indonesians would not find local sporting pride unfamiliar too, with their history of having homegrown athletes claiming top honours at international competitions such as the Olympics.

But for the rest of ASEAN, building a strong fan base that would attract sponsors and support to ensure the sustainability and survivability of the team does seem like a mountain-moving task. The teams taking ownership of the ABL dream is the instrumental first step.

“This finals is the fruit of the ABL dream,” shared Mikee Romero at the post-finals press conference in Jakarta. “It is a common dream of Tony Fernandes and his friends (who became the owners of the six teams). There are a lot of people backing this.”

“And one day, we will grow into Asia and this league will become a big, big league,” Romero continued in zest, “and maybe even rival the NBA (National Basketball Association) or CBL (China Basketball League). Watch out for this league.”

With the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) finals days away, Red Hoops reader Jonathan Chuongco gives his review of those who have stood out for him during the regular ABL season.

Best Player of the Regular Season: Nakiea Miller

Brought in to replace the ineffective Theophilus Little, Satria Muda have chosen the right guy. Not only can Miller score, but he can crash the boards as well, averaging a monstrous 20.7 points a game and 16.4 boards. Where Miller goes, Satria Muda go as well.

Most surprising win of the Regular Season: Thailand Tigers at Singapore Slingers (Dec 7)

The win was surprising because the Slingers were leading the ABL standings at the time, while the Tigers were anchored at the bottom. The Slingers actually held the lead at the end of the first quarter but things turned around during the second and the Tigers never looked back, getting the most surprising win of the ABL season.

Best Comeback of the Regular Season: KL Dragons

Hats off to the KL Dragons for not giving up and winning three straight crucial games against the Philippine Patriots, Singapore Slingers and Satria Muda BritAma, the top three teams in the ABL. Because of that, lady luck rewarded the Dragons, and they took the final playoff spot at the expense of the Brunei Barracudas.

Best Defensive Team of the Regular Season: Philippine Patriots

The Patriots held their opponents to 68.2 PPG (points per game) and held opponents to 37.6% shooting and 28.7% 3-point shooting to rank 1st, 1st and 2nd respectively in the three categories. It is a no-brainer that the best defensive team award should be given to the Patriots for it is a big reason why they led the ABL in the regular season.

Best Offensive Team/s of the Regular Season: Singapore Slingers and Brunei Barracudas

These two teams are very efficient at scoring. The Brunei Barracudas led the league in terms of scoring production with 78.9 PPG compared to the 75.5 PPG of the Slingers, but the Slingers shot slightly better than the ‘Cudas with 43.5% to 42.4%.

Only these two teams shot better than 40% for the season, and since their offensive production are very similar, both teams deserve to be given the best offensive team awards.

Best Crowd Support: KL Dragons fans

They were rowdy, loud and proud and filled the MABA Stadium when the Dragons played. No questions asked, the Dragons fans are the best in the ABL right now in terms of supporting the home team.

Editor’s Note: Have an entirely different opinion? If you would also like to share your review with the other Red Hoops readers, send your story to jan@redhoops.com

In an unprecedented move, Australian forward/center Simon Conn has been brought in to replace Mike Pilgrim in the Brunei Barracudas line-up ahead of their do-or-die ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) match against league leaders Philippine Patriots today.

This is Barracudas’ second sacking since the ABL inauguarated. Former American import, Lonnie Jones, was also sent home shortly after the league tipped-off. Reggie Larry was then brought in to replace him and has played alongside Pilgrim since.

Sacked due to disciplinary issues, Pilgrim has played in all the 14 games of the Barracudas and contributed a steady 16.5 points and 8.1 rebounds. Pilgrim had an ABL career-high of 22 points in two separate games and 15 rebounds in two other games.

But in Pilgrim’s final game against the Singapore Slingers, the American import could only managed 4 baskets in 9 attempts and made 4 out of 7 free throws in 28 minutes of action. While disciplinary concerns are believed to have triggered the sacking, his underperformance definitely pushed the button.

Simon Conn is a 6’9″, 250 lbs. forward/center who last played for Hanzevast Capitals (now known as the GasTerra Flames ) in the 2008-2009 Dutch Basketball League. He averaged 10.7 points and 4.7 rebounds in 19 games before injuries struck in January of 2009.

Prior to that, Conn played for 4 years in the US NCAA D1 team of Gardner-Webb Runnin’ Bulldogs where as a senior, he averaged 15.1 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. He is listed in the starting line-up of the Sandringham Sabres in the South East Australian Basketball League before being called by the Barracudas.

Bandar Sri Begawan, Wednesday, January 20, 2010 – The Singapore Slingers came out firing on all cylinders to beat the Brunei Barracudas 95-89 ensuring that they will at least finish in second place in the ASEAN Basketball League. While this leaves the Barracudas tied with the KL Dragons at fourth place and their playoff fate still hanging in balance.

Both teams were only tied at tip-off as the Slingers controlled the entire ball-game and led from the beginning to finish.

Singaporean Hong Wei Jian came up with the ball after tip-off for a fast-break lay in, which led to a 10-0 run for the Slingers who were a sizzling 60.5% from the field and almost 50% from downtown in the first half.

Michael LeBlanc who had a huge game the previous time the Slingers were in Brunei, came up big yet again with a team high 26 points accompanying his six boards and was the only Slinger who played the full game.

The Slingers also had strong contributions from local boys Desmond Oh and Hong Wei Jian who both had double figures while pestering the Barracudas backcourt on defence.

Slingers coach Frank Arsego was proud of the Singaporeans believing that the local boys finally contributed to what was missed in the game against the KL Dragons 3 days ago.

“Tonight the local boys really took care of business along with Jeffers and LeBlanc,” Arsego said. “Michael (LeBlanc) is the key part of the development of the Slingers and he has a lot of confidence here. Kyle and him are always ready to take responsibility in the game.”

The Australian coach was beaming with pride of his Singapore-based team as he praised his players for displaying a good season’s work.

“The boys are committed to play a good team game and we’re desperate to be as successful as we can. We knew they needed to make the playoffs, and we knew we need to finish second,” he stated.

The Slingers’ floor general controlled the offense most of the game by creating space and setting up for each other. Slingers Filipino-import, Al Vergara, in particular, again contributed at the most crucial times to finish the game with 15 points and led everyone with six assists.

“We wanted to learn how to put things in the right place and be successful on the road,” Arsego shared, “I believe that to win a championship, a team has to be able to come up with wins on the road and the key thing is to play good defense on the road and tonight we made them work extremely hard.”

It was a totally different story for the Barracudas who never rose to be a threat to the Slingers in this game. They struggled from the field (20% field goals) and looked flat-footed in the first half playing uninspired basketball.

The only reason the Slingers were leading by only 14 at the half-time mark was because the Barracudas made 27 of their 32 free throws.

In the fourth quarter, the Singapore side extended the lead to as much as 20 and the Barracudas only managed to come as close as nine points with under three minutes to go but were again shut down by the Slingers’ formidable defence.

Barracudas Filipino point guard Leo Avenido led all scorers with 30 points, shooting 100% from the charity stripe before fouling out at the last minute.

Michael Pilgrim and captain Francis ‘Kiko’ Adriano both had sub-par nights as Pilgrim was hit with foul-trouble yet again.

Coach Bong Ramos believed that being down 10-0 in the first quarter really killed their momentum.

“You can see, they really tried their best so I cannot ask for more, they are still pushing hard but the Slingers had too big a cushion and controlled the game,” said the Filipino coach.

“I take full responsibility for the loss, we had a chance to go to the final four today but we didn’t make it. Now we have one last chance against the Patriots,” said an emotional Ramos who couldn’t get the win on his birthday.

Ramos added: “It is a privilege to coach the Barracudas. I thank the Lord really, we are still alive and kicking even though other teams expect us to be eliminated right away. Our players try their best and we are not out yet.”

Ramos made known that they are not going to rely on Satria Muda to beat the KL Dragons to advance, he shared: “We are focused on the game for Sunday, we have to push one more time.”

When asked about what could possibly be the last home game of the season, Ramos thanked the home fans for their tremendous support.

“They support us even when we were losing, they never left. I want to say thank you to the Bruneians, who have supported us and I take responsibility for the loss,” Ramos concluded.

In the battle for the final playoff spot, the KL Dragons will visit Satria Muda on Saturday where a win will put pressure on the Barracudas, who will take on the Patriots who have never lost at home on Sunday.

Brunei Barracudas Game Box Score

Singapore Slingers Game Box Score

With the Philippine Patriots, Satria Muda and Singapore Slingers securing their playoff spots, the battle for the last playoff ticket between the Brunei Barracudas and KL Dragons has hogged the ABL limelight and will continue to do so should the Brunei Barracudas lose to the Singapore Slingers today.

“If the Barracudas beat Slingers, it’s over for us,” said KL Dragons head coach Goh Cheng Huat. “If Slingers are committed and the coach wants to go all out like what they’ve done against us, I think the Slingers stand a good chance to win the game.”

“Brunei doesn’t have the depth,” coach Goh said matter-of-factly. “If Slingers go full-court press, and if they just can keep pushing them above half-court then Brunei will definitely be in trouble with Slingers’ tough defense and aggressive play.”

Despite having arguably the most valuable ASEAN imports, the Barracudas have struggled with depth all season playing with a 6 or 7-man rotation only.

“Brunei’s point guard may be fit but he won’t last all 4 periods on his own,” said coach Goh, “but if Slingers allow Barracudas to come in and mess up, then they will be disadvantaged because Barracudas have Camaso and all the tall guys so they can easily take one-on-one.”

He continued: “But if Slingers can push them high, let them use the clock then set-up the offense, when Barracudas are late, they will mess up their offense and Slingers will keep the advantage this way.”

That said, Slingers will be coming off a sour away defeat against the Dragons, who had outclassed them 78-71 last weekend.

“Against us, they played all out but the game wasn’t in their hands – they were missing all the shots which was costly,” said coach Goh.

Although the Slingers had recovered from a mid-season slump to secure back-to-back home victories over the Patriots and Dragons in a week, they had no answer to the Dragons’ fiery home display a week later.

“This game was almost the same with the one in Singapore last week except it went the other way,” shared coach Goh. “Michael LeBlanc was hitting all the three-points in Singapore that cost us. When a team starts hitting all the outside shots, there’s not much we can do.”

The Dragons attempted twice as many threes as the Slingers did in Kuala Lumpur. The three-pointers contributed to 42% of the hosts’ total score while the Slingers had only 15% from three-point range. Dragons’ 21-year-old top scorer Loh Shee Fai had four treys to his name and finished with 17 points.

Coach Goh shared: “With these threes, I would attribute it to home court advantage. But Shee Fai is a real shooter. He was the top 3-point shooter at last year’s MIBC (Malaysian International Basketball Championship) – hitting the threes has always been his strength.”

Besides exploiting Shee Fai’s strength, coach Goh also unleashed his secret weapon in John Ng, who may have scored only four points all season long but was selected to start for the home team last weekend.

“I started John Ng because he has been defending LeBlanc previously in our local basketball league so I wanted to see how John would tackle him and John could also shoot from outside so it’s good to start him,” revealed coach Goh.

The gamble turned into a master stroke when Slingers top scoring machine Michael LeBlanc was confined to a miserable three points with only two field goals at half-time.

“My other options were Hugnatan or Li Wei or maybe Way Tek,” coach Goh added, “but they are not as consistent nor as experienced. So I gave John a shot and he had a great game.”

Despite the seething pressure piling on the Dragons to perform at home following the surprise Barracudas victory over Satria Muda the day before, coach Goh conceded that the pressure to perform was more for the sake of the Dragons’ die-hards than for the playoffs.

“Actually after we lost the game to Slingers in Singapore, we know that our chances to the playoffs was very slim and we can’t do anything much but because of our fans, we need to perform in the last two games and hopefully win it at home for our fans,” said coach Goh.

The Dragons’ den in Kuala Lumpur’s MABA stadium registered a full-house attendance on what could have been the day of their final home game. The support was so overwhelming that late-arriving fans had to be turned away as the stadium reached its maximum capacity.

“I told my players not to think of the playoffs but of course I can’t prevent them from thinking,” coach Goh said, “but I told them the more you think of the playoffs the more disappointed you are. We have done our part and we didn’t win when we needed to, we can’t blame anyone.”

So the odds may be against them, but all is not yet lost for the Dragons. If Barracudas were to suffer back-to-back defeats against the Slingers and league leaders Patriots, and if the Malaysian side then beat Satria Muda in Jakarta this Saturday, the Dragons will qualify.

“First, Slingers will have to do their job and we will do ours. We will need Slingers to do us a favour!” coach Goh concluded with a hearty laugh.

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.

The home team had lost twice already this season to the Jakarta-based club, their most recent defeat coming last weekend in a 98-84 reverse in Indonesia.

The Barracudas again relied heavily on their starting five of Francis Adriano (15 points), Celedon Camaso (16), Leonidez Avenido (18), Michael Pilgrim (26) and Reggie Larry (10). Larry and Avenido also had a double-double each.

The Barracudas trailed 37-44 at half-time but finally caught Satria Muda to tie the game up at 44-44 early in the third quarter through Pilgrim.

The Barracudas, playing with a rotation of only six men, then went on a 19-9 run to lead by 10 (63-53) with 1:17 left in the third.

The Barracudas continued to lead in the fourth and with 3:05 to go, the Barracudas were up by 11 (76-65).

But Satria Muda came back. Just over two minutes later, a Nakiea Miller 3-pointer whittled the Barracuda lead down to four (82-78) with 35 seconds left.

Two successful free throws by Adriano gave the Barracudas a six-point breathing room (84-78) but Hartman again raised tensions in the home crowd by sinking a 3-pointer with 16 seconds left to make it a three-point game (84-81).

But that was as close as Satria Muda would get and the Barracudas wrapped up their sixth win of their ABL campaign to improve to a 6-7 win-loss record.

The win also moved the Barracudas into fourth place on the table for the the final playoff. The Barracudas are in a battle with the KL Dragons for that final spot and this win swings the momentum in their favour.

The Barracudas have two more games to play – at home against the Singapore Slingers on Wednesday, before wrapping up the regular season away against the Philippine Patriots on the weekend. Wins against both teams will ensure playoff qualification for the Barracudas regardless of what the Dragons do.

As for Satria Muda, the loss leaves them with an 8-6 win-loss record and a tenuous hold on second place on the table. They have only one game left in the regular season against KL Dragons at home while third-placed Singapore Slingers have three games to play.

The team that finishes second will enjoy home-court advantage in the three-game semi-finals. The Philippine Patriots, Satria Muda and the Slingers have all qualified for the playoffs.

N.B. Check back for pics later.

Quarter by Quarter Scores
Barracudas vs Satria Muda
1st Q: 20-20
2nd Q: 17-22
3rd Q: 26-13
4th Q: 22-26

Brunei Barracudas Game Box Score

Satria Muda BritAma Game Box Score

Prihantono stood out with six 3-pointers for a team-high 22 points in the game. (Photo 1 courtesy of ABL)

Jakarta, Sunday, January 10, 2010 – Satria Muda BritAma continued their fine form with a dominating 98-84 win over the visiting Brunei Barracudas for their fourth consecutive victory in the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL).

Satria Muda are showing good form in their march to the playoffs, and are 5-2 in their last seven games. The two games they dropped were against the league leaders Philippine Patriots.

Trailing 19-22 at the end of the first quarter, Satria Muda blew the game open with a 33-10 second quarter to ensure that they held a comfortable 52-32 lead at half-time.

The Barracudas were again hampered by their weak bench. Barracuda centre Mike Pilgrim was pulled early in the second quarter after earning his second personal foul and Satria Muda went on a tear. The Jakarta-based club turned a one-point 27-26 lead at 7:55 on the clock into a 50-26 lead over the next six minutes. The game was as good as over by half-time.

Satria Muda had a 27-point lead at one stage in the fourth quarter before wrapping up their 14-point victory.

Amin Prihantono of Satria Muda stood out with six three-pointers for a team-high 22 points. Teammate Nakiea Miller had 19 points and 15 rebounds and three other Satria Muda players were also in double-digits.

ABL points leader Reggie Larry had a game-high 24 points in the losing effort for the Barracudas.

Satria Muda are now just one win behind the league-leading Patriots although they have played one game more. They are due to play the Barracudas in Brunei next before finishing the season at home against the KL Dragons.

Quarter by Quarter Scores
Satria Muda vs Barracudas
1st Q: 19-22
2nd Q: 33-10
3rd Q: 26-21
4th Q: 20-31

Satria Muda BritAma Game Box Score

Brunei Barracudas Game Box Score

Darunpong Apiromvilaichai of the Tigers goes for two despite the defense of Barracuda Celedon Camaso. (Photo 1 courtesy of ABL)

Bangkok, Monday, January 4, 2009 – The Brunei Barracudas beat the Thailand Tigers 94-89 to improve their chances of a playoff spot with four games to go to the end of the regular season.

Trailing by 11 points (70-81) at the start of the fourth, the Tigers came roaring back as the Barracudas struggled without centre Mike Pilgrim who was in foul trouble.

The Tigers made it a one-point game (87-88) with 3:23 on the clock when Chaz Briggs sank a two-point basket and then Attaporn Lertmalaiporn gave them the lead at 89-88 with 2:49 to go.

That proved to be the last points of the game for the Tigers who, forced to shoot from the outside, went cold with Ratdech Kruatiwa, Attaporn, Ricky Ricafuente and Briggs all missing from three-point range.

Despite their best scoring performance in a game with 89 this season, the Tigers fell to their 10th defeat for a 3-10 win-loss record and are out the reckoning for a playoff spot.

The Barracudas, who led by as many as 21 points early in the third quarter, had five players in double-digit scoring with captain Francis Adriano having a game-high 30 points and 10 rebounds. Teammate Reggie Larry had a double-double performance with 17 points and 13 rebounds.

This was the second-highest scoring game for the Barracudas in the preliminary rounds. Their 94 points is one shy of what they achieved against the Patriots in a blowout 95-70 win last year.

The win improved the Barracudas win-loss record to 5-6.

Quarter by Quarter Scores
Tigers vs Barracudas
1st Q: 18-28
2nd Q: 23-26
3rd Q: 29-27
4th Q: 19-13

Thailand Tigers Game Box Score

Brunei Barracudas Game Box Score