Nha Trang Dolphins sinks Đà Nẵng Dragons

Dominique Tham (white shirt) with 30 points and 16 rebounds help Nha Trang Dolphins win against Đà Nẵng Dragons. Photo courtesy of VBA

ĐÀ NẴNG — Nha Trang Dolphins gave the Danang Dragons their eighth loss, sinking them deep to the bottom of the rankings of the VBA 2023 professional basketball tournament.

Danang Dragons Club entered the game with high determination. Jairus Holder was the one who scored the first points for the Dragons.

Then Dragons's core player Jermaine Marrow also spoke up with mid-range shots. Thanks to that, after the first quarter, the Dragons led the Dolphins with a four-point gap (18-14).

In the second quarter, the Dolphins sped up their plays and control the game. Madarious Gibbs' sharp passes helped Robert Sampson and Dominique Tham continuously score to help the Dolphins take the lead with the score of 35-43.

After the break, Marrow once again showed his physical strength to help the Dragons close the gap. However, his efforts still could not help the home team take the lead.

The "twin tower" of the Dolphins Robert Sampson and Dominique Tham still dominated the restricted area on both sides.

It was not until the last minutes of the third quarter, thanks to the brilliance of William Trần, that the Dragons shortened the gap to a three-point game (63-66).

Within three minutes in the last quarter, Dolphins scored eight points to re-establish the double-digit gap (64-74).

But at this moment, Dominique Tham received a foul trouble when committed his fourth personal foul. Coach Predrag Lukic had to sub him out.

Even without Tham on the court, the Dragons closed the gap to 70-74. However, this was also the last time in the game they could do so.

Tham came back to the court in the last minutes and helped the Dolphins seal their victory with a score of 76-86.

Dominique Tham was Player of the Game with 30 points and 16 rebounds, nine of which were offensive rebounds. VNS