HÀ NỘI — Saigon Heat let their rival, Formosa Dreamers, come from behind to win 80-75 in their first match at the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) on Saturday in HCM City.

Playing on home turf, the Heat made an impressive start and ended the first quarter at 18-13.

The Dreamers did a better job early on in the second quarter, with a streak of 14 points to take the lead of 27-22. Akeem Scott helped the Heat come back with a three-point throw before his teammates netted 12 points to close the quarter at 37-28.

Scott continued his outstanding performance with 11 points in the third quarter, and the Heat maintained their lead of 62-55 by the end of the quarter.

The Heat led by 7 points 71-64, with 7.05 minutes to go in the game after a split from the line from their high-scoring import, Scott. However, the Dreamers sparked a three-point barrage that turned the game around.

The visitors continued to score, while the Heat failed to create attacks, leading to a loss of 75-80.

“When it’s your first game and you did not have any exhibition games, nay practice games, you really don’t know how things are going to go,” said Saigon Heat head coach, Kyle Julius. “For our first game together, I thought we had some good moments and some bad moments and we can grow and work on those.”

The Heat will next play Mono Vampire of Thailand on December 17. — VNS