With their loss to Chong Son Kung Fu Basketball four days ago still fresh on their minds, the Saigon Heat vented their ire on the Westports Malaysia Dragons with a 114-81 rout, Sunday afternoon at the MABA Stadium in Kuala Lumpur.
After scoring just 13 markers in the Heat’s 79-94 loss to Kung Fu, Filipino-American Mikey Williams made up for it as he finished with 21 points on 52 percent shooting from the floor, to go with six rebounds and six assists.
Moreover, this was Saigon’s way of avenging their 91-87 loss to Westsports last January 18.
The Heat started to break away in the second chapter, unloading an overwhelming 30-4 blitz to convert their slim 34-31 cushion to a wide 29-point gap, 64-35, with 39 seconds to play before the halftime break.
Saigon showed no mercy to the home team from then on. They continued to construct a high wall to prevent the Dragons from coming back — a wall that went as high as 35, 101-66, after Williams’ trey with 4:12 left to play.
Westports’ own Fil-Am reinforcement Joshua Munzon, who has been their top scorer over the past few games, made just 17 markers on 3-of-14 shooting from the floor. However, he also had 13 rebounds and five assists.
Patrick Cabahug was once again a non-factor for Malaysia, as he only had two points in the nine shots he took. He made it up with five boards.
Moses Morgan led the Heat with 26 points. Maxie Esho made 25 points and nine rebounds with two assists, two steals and two blocks, while Akeem Scott had 21 points alongside nine caroms and five dimes.
AJ West was the Dragons’ top-scorer with 22 markers and 17 rebounds. Local Kuek Tian Yuan made 17 points on a 70 percent clip with nine boards.
The sixth-ranked Vietnamese ball club improved to 6-6, while the Dragons, placed second to the last in the standings, absorbed their sixth straight loss and dropped to 3-10.
