Anthony January (white shirt) helped the Buffaloes make a comeback and win against defending champions Saigon Heat. Photo courtesy of VBA

HCM CITY Before the match, no one could believe that Saigon Heat would lose in their first home match in the Vietnam Professional Basketball Tournament VBA 2023.

The home team was defeated by Hanoi Buffaloes who ranked second in the standings.

Defending champions Saigon Heat were favourites before tip-off and had shown excellent performance winning all six matches in the first stage of the tournament while the Hanoi Buffaloes also played quite well with four wins and two losses.

The away team had a change in the starting line-up when they replaced Russel Smith with Udun Osakue.

The match started with an overwhelming attack from the home team Saigon Heat. Võ Kim Bản got four successful three-pointers in the first quarter to help Saigon Heat take the lead 29-11.

The Buffaloes quickly made changes in Q2 to limit the opponent's attack power.

In turn, Đinh Tiến Công, Phạm Đức Kiên and Trần Minh Hiếu made a sub to strengthen the away team's defence.

It was thanks to the reasonable change of coach Erik Tyrone Rashad that helped the Buffaloes to close the gap to 10 points (37-47) before the break.

The third quarter was tense, neither side could make a breakthrough, but Saigon Heat maintained control, keeping the 10-point difference (73-63).

The Buffaloes didn't want to lose again against the defending champion and put all their determination into the fourth quarter.

Within the first three minutes of the last quarter, American player Anthony January helped the Buffaloes breakthrough and equalized the score.

He also made a powerful putback dunk to help the Buffaloes take the lead 79-78 for the first time in the match.

The game was full of excitement and tension in the last minutes when the two teams took turns taking the lead.

When the match had less than two minutes to go, the Buffaloes took the initiative leading by three points (86-83). After that, the Buffaloes took advantage of every opportunity on the free throw line to convert their advantage into a 92-83 victory over Saigon Heat.

With 38 points and 19 rebounds, Anthony January was named player of the match. Meanwhile, Buffaloes' new signup Udun Osakue also showed an impressive performance with 19 points and 7 steals.

Despite losing, Saigon Heat still holds the top position in the rankings, but the competition is more interesting when there is no unbeaten team in VBA. VNS