Barracudas look to bounce back

Yee Chun Leong

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

THE Barracudas are confident that they can bounce back against the KL Dragons when the two meet in their Asean Basketball League (ABL) match at the Indoor Stadium of the Hassanal Bolkiah National Sports Complex in Berakas tonight.

"It's been a long time since we've had a competitive game. The past two weeks were not really a break as we have been training daily to prepare for this match," said Barracudas coach Bong Ramos during an interview with The Brunei Times at the Indoor Stadium yesterday.

"We are ready to play and hopefully we will not be rusty tomorrow, " added the 48-year-old Filipino yesterday.

This will be the third time the two teams will meet with the Barracudas picking up their first victory in the inaugural league with a 94-76 win over the Dragons at the Maba Stadium on Oct 14 in their first meeting.

The Dragons then gained revenge with a 76-73 triumph at the Brunei Indoor Stadium on Oct 18 in their second meeting.

"We will have to sprint back on defence to stop them and also execute at the offensive end.

"In addition, we will also have to match their energy and intensity to have a chance of pulling off a victory against them," continued the ex-Indonesia national coach.

The Dragons are a different side now having ditched Chris Lynch for Chris Lonichi and signed three other Asean imports Rudy Lingganay, Bandaying Fhadzmir and Roel Hugnatan since the two teams last met.

"The Dragons are a good team. They have good energy and their motivation is high after their victory against the Singapore Slingers," said the Filipino coach.

The Barracudas head coach also pointed out that the match was a crucial one with only eight more games left in the league before the playoffs.

"I don't want to think about the other teams like the Dragons or the (Thailand) Tigers.

" We need to focus on ourselves and do whatever we can to win every game," said Ramos.

"We'll just have to take it one game at a time and win as many matches as possible before looking at the standings," added the Filipino mentor.

Asked about Reggie Larry's wrist injury picked up during the Barracudas' 66-77 loss to the Tigers on Nov 22, Ramos said: "He's fine now and is fit to play tomorrow."

The Barracudas will field American imports Larry and Mike Pilgrim together with the trio of Filipino players, captain Francis 'Kiko' Adriano, Don Camaso and Leo Avenido, today.

Meanwhile, the Dragons are on a high after coming off an 84-74 victory over the Slingers at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on Nov 22.

In their victory against the Slingers, the Dragons started with their American imports Lonichi and Jamal Brown and the trio of Filipino imports, Lingganay, Fhadzmir and Hugnatan.

It was the right formula for the Malaysians.

Today's game is slated to tip off at 8pm.

The Patriots currently top the six-team table with 15 points while the Slingers are tied with Satria Muda Britama with 13 points.

The Thailand Tigers follow with 12 points while the Dragons are on 10 points.

The Barracudas are at the bottom of the table with nine points.


source: The Brunei Times