KL Dragons let Vampire escape

KL DRAGONS head coach Jamie Pearlman believes his team have shown a lot of positives despite falling to their third defeat of the season in the Asean Basketball League (ABL).

The Dragons, who had clinched a dramatic 80-79 win over Taiwan’s Formosa Dreamers on Sunday, were involved in another nail-biting finish against Thailand’s Mono Vampire on Wednesday.

However this time, they were unable to complete a comeback against the league leaders as they fell to a 91-94 defeat in overtime at the Stadium 29 in Bangkok.

But it was certainly a game that could have gone their way as the Dragons, despite missing Bulgarian-Malaysian forward Simeon Lepichev, showed a lot of spirit against the Thai team.

Trailing by 12 points in the fourth quarter, the Dragons staged a fierce comeback as a four-point run by Amir Bell put them just 78-79 behind with 26 seconds on the clock.

And in literally the last play of regulation time, Cade Davis earned a foul in three-point range for three free throw opportunities.

Alas, the usually reliable Davis only made one-of-three shots which sent the game into overtime and Mono would count their lucky stars as they eventually escaped with the win.

Davis top-scored for the team with 29 points while Will Artino had another double-double with 19 markers and 19 rebounds.

“I wouldn’t say we were just unlucky against Mono as we were scrambling to close the deficit at the end,” admitted Pearlman.

“Although we missed some free throws at the end, there were a lot of factors throughout the game which caused us not to be able to win in regulation time.

“But I’m still very proud of the team’s defensive toughness as they kept fighting and believing in each other.”

The Dragons dropped to fourth in the table with a 4-3 record and they have a lengthy break before hitting the road again to face the Macau Black Bears on Jan 29. Kng Zheng Guan