HÀ NỘI — Despite a strong effort, Hanoi Buffaloes lost 63-65 to Saigon Heat in the last minutes of the Việt Nam Basketball Association League on September 7 in Hà Nội.

It was their third meet this season and the first win for Heat, which is the first Vietnamese professional club.

On home turf at the Bách Khoa Gymnasium, the Buffaloes received strong support from fans, however, the team failed to repeat their performance of the previous games.

The hosts let Heat set the pace in all the sets, who quickly moved ahead in the early minutes of the game. The first set ended 19-13 in favour of Heat.

Foreigner Miller Darrell was on the court in the second set to push Heat’s lead further. He immediately scored six points in a row and extended the gap for the visitors to 25-13. Darrell and Trần Đăng Khoa continued their awesome performance to end the set at 42-26.

Early in the third set, the Buffaloes increased their speed and stole 10 points, while Heat got three points, with the set ending at 52-45.

While Buffaloes’ Nguyễn Phú Hoàng and Nguyễn Tiến Dương did not succeed with their attempts, Nguyễn Văn Hùng and Darrell pushed Heat up with their shoots.

Near the end of the match, Nguyễn Thành Đạt scored three points for the Buffaloes to narrow the gap to 54-61, and later 63-64.

However five seconds were enough for the experienced Heat team to finish the match with one point by Nguyễn Thành Nhân, after Berkeley of the hosts failed to score from two free throws.

Despite their loss, the Buffaloes remain at the top of the ranking with eight wins. The Heat are second, followed by HCM City Wings.

In the next fixture, the Buffaloes will welcome Cantho Catfish, while Heat entertain Danang Dragon on September 10. — VNS