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Friday October 16, 2009

Revenge on KL Dragons’ minds in Brunei

By ERIC SAMUEL

KUALA LUMPUR: KL Dragons want blood and they are bent on avenging an unexpected defeat by Brunei Barracudas in the inaugural Asean Basketball League (ABL).

And the opportunity comes quickly. Their next match in the six-team league is the return-leg of the tie against Barracuda and it will be played at the Brunei Indoor Stadium in Bandar Seri Begawan on Sunday.

Coach Goh Cheng Huat said that he hoped the team would be wiser from a bitter lesson of having under-estimated Barracudas in their opening match and it resulted in a 76-94 defeat at the MABA Stadium here on Wednesday.

“We will be the underdogs in the return match in Brunei,” he said.

Cheng Huat admitted that they were wrong to gauge Barracudas’ strength from the Brunei side’s opening game defeat (69-87) by Singapore Slingers last Sunday.

“It was my fault because I did not expect them (Barracudas) to raise their game. There was little we learnt of them from watching the live telecast on TV and they certainly took us by surprise,” he said.

The Barracudas played a smooth-flowing game and ran up a 32-point lead (74-42) after the third-quarter and it was too late for the Dragons to win the match.

One of the two Americans in the Dragons’ ranks, Chris Lynch, felt that the team needed more competitive matches before they could throw strong challenges in the ABL. The other foreigner in the Malaysian side is Jamal Brown.

“We have just got into the team and it will take time and more matches before we hit the right key,” said Lynch.

Cheng Huat also felt that his team, with barely a month’s preparations, would find the going tough to make an impact in the first season of the ABL.

The Philippine Patriots have emerged as the favourites after chalking up a 76-69 win over Satria Muda BritAma of Indonesia in Jakarta last week. The other team in the fray are Thailand Tigers.

Fixtures

Sunday: Brunei Barracudas vs KL Dragons (Brunei Indoor Stadium, 4pm); Thailand Tigers vs Satria Muda BritAma (Nimibutr National Stadium, 4pm); Singapore Slingers vs Philippine Patriots (Singapore Indoor Stadium, 4pm).

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