Overcoming Cooly Bangkok Tigers, Saigon Heat got off to a good start in stage 3 of ABL Invitational 2023

Opening the third stage of Saigon Heat at ABL Invitational 2023 will be a match against Cooly Bangkok Tigers, a club from Thailand.

This is an underrated opponent compared to coach Matt Van Pelt's teachers and students, but this team has just added forces in the position of foreign soldiers, and at the same time replaced the new coach with the goal of improving performance.

Both teams entered the match excitedly with a spectacular double attack. But perhaps because it was quite comfortable, neither side really defended until around the middle of the first half, where the Cooly Bangkok Tigers started to defend better to create an 8-point advantage.

After calling for a time-out, coach Matt Van Pelt's teachers and students played more focused on both ends of the field. They started with the blood of Hassan Thomas at home and then played more effectively in attack.

Jairus Holder, Thomas and Jeremy Combs continuously scored to put Saigon Heat in the lead, holding a fragile 1 point advantage after the first two innings (score 46-45).

Contrary to the first half, Saigon Heat played extremely focused in the second half of the match. They focused on defending the main offensive spearhead of Cooly Bangkok Tigers, Kittitep Dasom, and played a team attack.

Things became more favorable for teachers and coaches Matt Van Pelt when striker Wuttipong Dasom on the Tigers side was injured, and foreign soldier William Freeman had a personal error.

Taking full advantage of the opportunity, Saigon Heat created the longest gap of up to 21 points before winning the final with a score of 98-81.

Jeremy Combs was voted the best player of the match, leading the Saigon Heat team with 25 points, 11 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 assists. Right behind him is Evan Gilyard with 20 points, 5 assists and 2 steals. Hassan Thomas along with Jairus Holder and Tim Waale are the remaining names scoring over 10 points.

The internal soldiers also performed quite well today when Tim Waale, Vo Kim Ban, Nguyen Huynh Phu Vinh and Nguyen Anh Kiet all had points (20 points in total), contributing to the final victory for "Mr. 30".

After this match, Saigon Heat will take a break for a day before facing Hong Kong Eastern at 5:00 p.m. Sunday, February 5.