Malaysia Dragons spew fire on SMB

MANILA, Philippines - Determined to put up a better showing at the Ynares Sports Arena, the Westports Malaysia Dragons outclassed San Miguel Beermen, 73-70, to post their sixth win in the third AirAsia ASEAN Basketball League last night.

Tiras Wade scattered 28 points, including the insurance freebies that quashed the Beermen’s furious fightback from 20 points down, along with six assists and five steals, as the Dragons improved to 6-2.

They handed the Beermen their first setback in three home games and snapped their three-game streak for 5-3 overall.

The Dragons took solo second behind the AirAsia Phl Patriots (6-1).

The Patriots shoot for their sixth straight win against Bangkok Cobras in the 6 p.m. PG Flex Linoleum home game, trying to build momentum and confidence going into their next outing against the Beermen on March 3.

“We need to win this game as our motivation for our next important game against San Miguel,” said Patriots coach Glenn Capacio, looking forward to exacting revenge against the only team that beat them so far.

Malaysia’s Filipino coach Ariel Vanguardia said he challenged his wards to do better after getting shamed the last time they played at the venue, absorbing a 72-86 spanking from the Patriots Feb. 5.

“We were embarrassed last time so I challenged them not to let me down when we return to Ynares and they stepped up,” said Vanguardia, who also drew 12 points from local John Ng and 11 points and 16 rebounds from import Brian Williams despite fouling out with still 3:30 left.

The Beermen stormed to an 11-2 headstart but the Dragons fought back and, switching to zone, got to within 9-13 at the end of the opening canto. Back-to-back treys by Yeo Seng John Ng touched off a 26-15 second quarter that gave the visitors a 40-20 spread.

SMB unleashed a rally sparked by triples from Aries Dimaunahan and Leo Avenido, threatening to within 68-70 with 32.2 ticks left. Wade drew a foul from Junjun Cabatu, splitting his charities. He then grabbed the rebound off Dimaunahan’s game-tying triple try and converted both freebies for a 73-68 cushion.

“I wanted to hide the zone but they were killing us on man-to man and so I shifted to the zone as my last string and it worked. It neutralized their inside presence,” said Vanguardia, referring to SMB imports Anthony Johnson (22 points, 14 rebounds) and Doug Thomas (16 markers 12 boards).