HÀ NỘI — HCM City Wings defeated Danang Dragons and set a record at the Việt Nam Basketball League on October 16 in HCM City.

Although they had already pocketed a ticket to the play-off round, the Wings gave no chance to the bottom-placed Danang Dragons during their encounter at the Hồ Xuân Hương Stadium, winning 100-86.

The Dragons started the first set strongly and were ahead. Joly Rudolphe worked hard and scored 11 points within the first six minutes. However, the visitors could not maintain their lead, giving the court to the Wings, who quickly leveled the result and won 28-20.

The Wings’ continued their strong attacks in the second set and created a wider gap with the Dragons. Lê Ngọc Tú of the hosts shined with his series of two-point throws, while Horace Nguyen and Stefan Nguyen struggled to collect a single point for the other side. The set ended 52-36.

Not much changed in the third and four sets, with the Wings continuing to dominate the game, while the Dragons appeared confused both while attacking and defending.

The whole stadium erupted in applause when Võ Văn Thanh made a three-point throw to push the Wings tally to101, becoming the first team of the league to reach 100 points in one match.

The leader then increased to 104 towards the end of the game. The Dragons could only manage 86 points.

In the other match of the day, Hanoi Buffaloes defeated hosts Cantho Catfish 68-65.

Playing on away ground, the Buffaloes chose the counter-attack tactic and scored the first points, including a three-point throw by Nguyễn Tiến Dương.

The visitors finished the first set with a narrow lead of 14-12.

Dương was again the best player of the second set with his accurate throws, helping the Buffaloes initially steaming ahead from the Catfishes, before ending the set 30-28.

Tô Quang Trung and Tâm Đinh helped the Catfishes come from behind to lead 46-44 till half time of the third set, but their effort was not enough to help the team maintain the lead.

The Buffaloes finished at 51-49.

Tâm Đinh was the only player who could score for the Catfishes in the final set. Meanwhile, trio Nguyễn Phú Hoàng, Nguyễn Thành Đạt and Dương rotated to open attacks for the visitors, making it 68-65.

The next fixture on October 19 will see a rematch between the Dragons and the Wings in Đà Nẵng City, while the Catfish will host Saigon Heat. — VNS