ABL: Barracudas hand Patriots their first loss of season

By reader Jayson Valencia

Brunei, Saturday, November 6, 2010 — The Brunei Barracudas worked off the frustration from their blowout loss to the KL Dragons last weekend to hand the league’s best team, the Philippine Patriots, a 71-56 defeat in Round 6 of the ASEAN Basketball League.

This was the first defeat for the Patriots after they had won their opening five games of the season. They fall to 5-1 while the Barracudas improve to 2-4.

The Patriots were all at sea in the first quarter, scoring only two points while Chris Commons, Bryan Faundo and Christopher Garnett of the Barracudas collectively made 16 points.

Thunderous crowd chants together with the Barradrummers amplified the visibly shakened Patriots’ plight. However, with the guidance of Coach Louie Alas, the Patriots rallied back in the second quarter. A huge 3-pointer from Ernesto Billiones coupled with the combined efforts of Chito Jaime, Donald Little and Santiago Cabatu gathered 19 points against the Barracudas 12. The Patriots were quickly learning how to swim in the Barracudas’ sea, trailing only by by seven (21-28) at the half.

The third quarter though was an entirely different story. With deadly intent, Ramsey Williams, wearing jersey number 35 for the Barracudas, delivered 3-pointer upon 3-pointer which even the Patriots’ well-known defensive prowess could not stop. Williams sank three of his four 3-pointers in the third quarter to lead the Barracudas to a 51-36 lead at the end of the third as the Patriots were out-scored 23-15.

The fourth quarter was a see-saw battle with both teams scoring 20 points but their poor first quarter eventually cost the Patriots the game.

The Patriots will need to work on their long range shooting as they only made 3 out of 19 attempts (16%). The In contrast, the Barracudas sank 8 out 28 3-pointers (29%) but the difference between the two teams was in the area of assists, with the Barracudas notching 13, while the Patriots only had six.

Ramsey Williams led with 23 points for the Barracudas while Patriots’ Billiones had 19 points. Donald Little had a double-double, 11-point, 12-rebound showing for the Patriots.

The Barracudas will next entertain the visiting Singapore Slingers (3-3) on Wednesday, November 10th. The Slingers will then return home to welcome the Patriots on Sunday, November 14th.