Basketball

HÀ NộI — Saigon Heat defeated Mono Vampire 110-94 at the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) at the CIS Arena in HCM City on December 17.

The game saw the highest points scored by any Vietnamese team (110) at the ABL.

The Vampires of Thailand are a strong rival as they rank among the top three of the ABL. However, the Heat quickly dominated the first period with three-point shots from Moses Morgan, David Arnold and Akeem Scott. They temporarily took the lead 25-21.

The second quarter continued seeing the boom of Scott, with five successful three-point shots. The Vietnamese team scored 32 points to end the period with a score of 57-42.

In the next quarter, the Heat’s key players made many individual errors. However, with a good defence, they scored 27 points to lead 84-65.

In the last period, both Arnold and Travele Jones were forced to leave the game because of five individual fouls each.

Taking full advantage of this chance, the Vampire fought back strongly and narrowed the gap to 104-88 when the game had only two minutes to end.

At that time, the Heat didn’t have any good centres to break the attacks of the Vampire. However, Tô Quang Trung suddenly shone with a three-point throw to stop the Vampire’s hope.

The gap between the two sides was 19 points when the game had only one minute to go. Finally, the Heat won the game by a score of 110-94.

The Heat used the effective tactics of coach Kyle Julius of Canada alongside an impressive performance by the key players.

In this game, the Heat’s players scored three points 17 times, equivalent to the ABL’s present record.

These two teams will lock horns again to close out 2017 for the ABL, as the Heat will travel to Bangkok on December 22 for a quick rematch. — VNS