Vietnam’s club Saigon Heat lost to San Miguel Alab Pilipinas of the Philippines 100-110 in the playoff’s first match of the ASEAN Basketball League on Sunday.

Saigon Heat seen in the match against San Miguel Alab Pilipinas of the Philippinesin the playoff’s first match of the ASEAN Basketball League on April 1. — Photo ABL

The game was held at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan, Philippines.

The Pilipinas got their first playoff win in franchise history. Last year, they were swept by the Singapore Slingers in just two games.

The Heat played equally with the hosts in the first few minutes. However, the hosts took the lead with a gap of seven points.

Seeing his unstable defence line-up, coach Kyle Julius of the Heat adjusted his tactics effectively. Maxie Esho and Michael Williams quickly narrowed the gap. However, the squad still lost to the Filipinos 24-30 in the first quarter.

The turning point of the game for the Heat unfortunately came in the form of their head coach getting ejected. Heat mentor Kyle Julius got slapped for his second technical error of the game during the tail end of the second half.

Without a head coach, the Heat continued to lose to the team from the Philippines 47-57.

The Heat fought back strongly in the third quarter but the hosts still easily beat the visitors 90-72. 

In the last quarter, the Heat delivered a wonderful performance to reduce the gap to only 10 points when the match had just over a minute to end.

Coach Jimmy Alapag of the hosts immediately guided his players to play more slowly to take full advantage of the time. As a result, the Heat did not succeed in coming from behind to beat the hosts and received a loss of 100-110.

With their efforts, players of the Heat shone in this match. Akeem Scott scored 19 points and eight steaks. Williams scored 19 points and five assists, and Maxie Esho scored 42 Diem points.

The two sides will meet again at CIS Arena in HCM City on Aril 7. 

Hanoi Buffaloes beat Danang Dragons at VFL

Hanoi Buffaloes defeated Danang Dragons 3-1 in the second match of the Vietnam Futsal League in Hanoi on Sunday.

Hanoi Buffaloes vs Danang Dragons in the second match of the Vietnam Futsal League in Hanoi on April 1. — Photo Vietnam Futsal League

The hosts Buffaloes dominated the game from the beginning. Receiving a pass from Noé Pardo, Ton That Phi scored the opening goal for the hosts.

The Dragons used the option of power play to seek goals and succeeded in levelling the score of 1-1.

However, in the last few minutes, Phi scored two more goals to help the Buffaloes win 3-1.

In other matches, Can Tho Catfish tied with Thang Long Warriors 2-2, while HCM City Wings also drew with Saigon Heat 2-2.

HCM City Wings temporarily top the rankings, with four points after one draw and one win, followed by Hanoi Buffaloes with three points and Thang Long Warriors with two points.

Six teams from four cities are participating in the League. They will compete in a round-robin format in the qualifying and knock-out rounds.

There will be a total of 19 matches in Hanoi, HCM City and Da Nang.

The best players of the event will be selected to join the national team to compete in international events in preparation for the World Cup Futsal.

VNS