Black Bears take first win in ABL invitational

The Macau Black Bears have won their first match of the 2023 ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) invitational tournament, beating the Cooly Bangkok Tigers on Sunday afternoon 109 vs. 85.

It was the first and only win for the Black Bears, who before this match had suffered three defeats in the first three matches of the tournament.

On the first march played last Tuesday, the Bears had lost (84 vs. 76) against Saigon Heat, which followed another defeat last Thursday, this time at the hands of Hong Kong’s Eastern Long Lions (81 vs. 75).

On Friday, the Bears met and again lost (73 vs. 54) to the Malaysians of NS Matrix; at the time both teams were looking for their first victory in the tournament.

In the last match the Bears played at Singapore’s OCBC Arena, the local team coached by the Canadian Charles Dubé-Brais finally took their first win. At half-time, the Bears were already ahead of the Tigers by 12 points (38 vs. 50) thanks to a higher accuracy of 3-pointer shots that accounted for more than half of the Bears’ score line.

The highlight for the Macau team was the American Isaiah Wade, with a total of 33 points scored, followed by another American, De’Quan Abrom, with 31 points, and the Filipino-born Canadian Jenning Leung with 26 points on his account.

With this win, the Bears occupy the sixth position out of eight teams with a score differential of -9 points. Such a result could have been even better for the Bears if, in the last match of the day, the Zamboanga Valientes had not won over the Singapore Slingers.

The win of Valientes pulled the Philippines team from fifth to third position overall just behind Eastern and Heat.

After the round played in Singapore, the tournament moves to Indonesia late this week, where the Bears will meet again with the Eastern on January 12, at the Hi-Test Arena.

The new location will in the city of Batam, the largest city in the province of Riau Islands, Indonesia.

This Saturday (January 14) the Bears will meet with the Tigers again in a match to be played at the same venue.