Barracudas face tough battle

ABL Update: The game between Brunei Barracudas and Philippine Patriots which is scheduled this afternoon has been cancelled due to typhoon “Santi” which is expected to hit the Philippine capital.



Yee Chun Leong
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

Saturday, October 31, 2009

FOLLOWING their 80-82 home loss to the Singapore Slingers last Sunday, Brunei's first professional basketball team, Barracudas, are looking to bounce back against the Philippine Patriots tonight in the inaugural Asean Basketball League (ABL).

"We are totally ready and are confident on giving them a hard game. We will just try our best to win as we have the disadvantage heading into every game as the underdogs," said Barracudas head coach Bong Ramos in a telephone interview with The Brunei Times yesterday.

Ramos mentioned that they are going to have a very difficult time against the Filipino side who are under an experienced coach Louie Alas, who after completing his duties with the Letran Knights in the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA), made his ABL coaching debut and led the Patriots to a 74-61 rout of the Thai Tigers last Sunday.

"We know each other's systems as we have played against each other in the NCAA and PBA (Philippine Basketball Association) before. We sort of know each other inside out," commented the ex-Indonesian national coach about his counterpart.

The Barracudas coach knows that they will have their hands full as along with the return of Alas, the Patriots also added three star players from the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) to their lineup: Val Acuna, Nonoy Baclao and Elmer Espiritu.

"They are even deeper in bench now as these are very good players. These three didn't play against the Slingers which could have been the difference in that game," said Ramos. "The Patriots are still one of the strongest teams in the league as they are an all-around team with good defence and stamina. I'm ready to face a team that can run and probably apply some good full court pressure defence," added the Filipino mentor.

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source: The Brunei Times