83 VS 66

Saturday February 23rd  2013, Tip off 3Pm local time, 3PM HKT, MABA Stadium, Kuala Lumpur.

The stingy defense of the Westports Malaysia Dragons limited Chris Charles to only 11 points this afternoon. Sammy Monroe put on another exciting show in front of his home crowd to help the Dragons defeat the Chang Thailand Slammers 83-66.

Monroe was on fire in the first half, scoring 19 of his 32 points within the first 20 minutes. Gavin Edwards chipped in with 12 points while Moala Tautuaa recorded his first double-double of the season with 10 points and 12 rebounds. 

Monroe continued his incredible run with the Dragons with 9 straight points straight off the bat to build a 20-8 lead for the Dragons with 2:09 left in the first quarter. The Sammy Monroe show continued as he put on a shooting clinic early in the second quarter. Monroe made a smooth step back three point shot that ballooned the Dragons lead to 37-19 with 6:07 left before halftime. Then Monroe used a pick from Edwards and dished out a nice pass to Edwards for a dunk, giving the Dragons their biggest lead of the game at 46-25.

The Slammers had a chance to cut the gap within the single digits in the third quarter as the Dragons had a slow start coming out of the locker room. The momentum was shifting to the Slammers way after Jonathan Fernandez knocked down a three that trimmed the Dragons lead to 54-40. Then the Dragons’ Edwards picked up his fourth foul and had to come out of the game with 5:07 left in the third quarter.

With Edwards sitting on the bench with foul trouble, the Slammers pushed hard to close in. A three-point from Fernandez and a lay-up from Charles got the Slammers within 11 points with 4:29 left in the third quarter. The Slammers had a chance to get within a single digit again but a turnover from Kannawat Lertlaaokul led to a lay-up for Patrick Cabahug and on the next Dragons' possesion, Tautuaa made a putback jam that stretched the lead back to 15 points.

The Dragons fans definitely enjoyed the show put on by Monroe over the past two games. He capped off his fine afternoon with a nice pull up jumper from the wing and probably one of the best plays so far this season – a huge dunk off a nice alley-oop pass from Tautuaa.

The Slammers were unable to replicate their amazing performance in MABA on Ferbruary 2nd. Michael Earl led the Slammers with 14 points, followed by Charles with 11 points and 12 rebounds. Froilan Baguion added 9 points and 11 rebounds for the Slammers who were missing Chanachon Klahan and Darongpan Apiromvilaichai this afternoon.

The Chang Thailand Slammers will regroup before they head to another road game on March 1st when they visit the Saigon Heat at Tan Binh Stadium, Vietnam. The Dragons will try to extend their two-game winning streak on March 2nd when they visit San Miguel Beermen at Ynares Sports Arena, Philippines.

Westports Malaysia Dragons: Monroe - 32 , Edwards - 12 , Tautuaa -10, Kuek - 9, Loh - 7, Melton - 5, Cabahug - 4, Li Wei - 2, Kuppusamy - 2.

 Chang Thailand Slammers: Earl - 14, Charles - 11, Baguion - 9, Fernandez - 8, Lertlaaolul - 6, Dasom - 5, Kongkum - 4, Tongsri - 3, Ghogar - 3, Sekteera - 2, Wanna - 1.