BRUNEI Barracudas started the Asean Basketball League on the wrong foot after losing their opening match against Singapore Slingers 87-69 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium yesterday.
Michael Pilgrim, the American import for Barracudas has a high of 16 points to counter Michael LeBlanc of the Slingers who hit 20 points.
Both teams were neck-in-neck at the start of the match when Slingers pulled away in the third period where Slingers took a 17-point lead. They advanced their lead in the fourth period with a 20-point lead. The match ended with Slingers winning 87-69 against the Brunei Barracudas.
Brunei Barracudas team owner Nadzaty Azma Azeez was happy with her team’s performance.
“After practising for only two weeks as a full team, they showed great teamwork and could hold their own against the more experienced Slingers.”
“I am especially proud of our local players. This is more or less our first tune-up game given the lack of good competition we were able to find from within Brunei. So we can expect to get better once our fitness levels get better. We definitely will continue to compete hard.”
Bob Turner, Managing Director of Singapore Slingers was very hopeful about the future of the ABL and basketball in the Asean region.
“The most important aspect of today is not winning or losing but the start of such a historic for sports in the Asean region. From humble beginnings the ABL will emerge as a premier sporting league for the region and a win by the slingers in the first game will show Singapore that they have a team they can be proud of.”
The exciting game was shown regionally over ESPN and was played in front of a crowd of raucous fans who were zealously supporting their teams.
Brunei’s Barracudas will next face KL Dragons on Wednesday, Oct 14 at the MABA stadium in Kuala Lumpur.
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