Dragons go down again
MALAYSIA Dragons coach Chris Thomas was able to draw plenty of positives despite watching his side succumb to Mono Vampire 107-90 for a second straight home defeat in the Asean Basketball League (ABL) yesterday.
Thomas took a bold decision to expose his local players at the Maba Stadium in the absence of injured American Marcus Marshall while late-season signing Curtis Washington attempts to find his bearings in his first week with the Dragons.
At one point in the third quarter, all five players on court were Malaysians, who did well to narrow a 19-point deficit to just five when the Dragons got to within 88-83.
But Mono pulled away against the inexperienced Dragons with Reggie Johnson, part of the Dragons’ 2015 ABL-title winning team, helping the visiting Thai club to avenge a four-point loss to the Dragons in Bangkok a week earlier.
Ting Chun Hong top scored for the Dragons with 20 points to point the way forward for the locals while Patrick Cabahug added 18 points.
“It was a big-time moment of pride for me to watch five locals together on the floor of an ABL game,” said Thomas after the Dragons, beaten by Chong Son Kung Fu at home on Wednesday, fell to 1-2 for the season.
“For us to compete as hard as we did and to pull within a workable distance makes me really proud of what we are doing here.
“We had some really tough luck in our first three games as far as various issues with the imports. But I told the guys in the locker room that they fought and battled with the understanding that nobody is going to feel sorry for you.”
The Dragons have a month’s break to work on getting Washington up to speed before they play Alab Pilipinas on Jan 3.
“When we get a full roster I think a lot of teams will take extra notice of what we are going to do,” said Thomas, who decided not to risk Marshall, scorer of an ABL-record 60 points against Mono in the first game.
Patrick Sanders led Mono with 25 points while Johnson had 17 points and 13 rebounds to secure their second win in three outings. Devinder Singh