Published on: Wednesday, July 28, 2010 |
Kota Kinabalu: Sabah Kinsabina Group will face a tough challenge of going against Kuala Lumpur Dragons in the semi-final round of the National Basketball League, this weekend.
The Penampang-based team finished fourth in the league standing with 10 points after getting just one win from nine matches that were played in three state venues throughout the month-long competition.
Kuala Lumpur, who won seven of all its matches, finished in the top spot with 16 points and is expected to win easily against Sabah.
The two teams are set to clash in the opening fixture of the first semi-final round, which will be held at 8.15pm at the Maba Stadium in Kuala Lumpur on July 30.
They will play again at the same time and place in the second round, which is scheduled on the following day.
The other semi-final match will feature Sarawak Rainbow taking on Perak Farmcochem at 9.15pm on both days.
Sarawak and Perak are equally matched teams but Sarawak seem to have the slight upper hand after placing second in the league standing, while Perak is in third place, despite having the same 14 points -from five wins and four losses- as Sarawak.
Meanwhile, the results from fixtures at the competition's third circuit in Ipoh, Perak, on Monday night, saw Sabah Kinsabina Group absorbing yet another defeat.
They took on Kuala Lumpur in the early match but lost 60-77, despite starting off strong in the first quarter.
Sabah Kinsabina Group kept the scoring tight in the first ten minutes of play and trailed by just one point (20-19) at the end of the period.
They started losing ground in the second quarter as Kuala Lumpur began piling on the heat to gain a 40-30 lead at the buzzer.
The third quarter saw Sabah Kinsabina Group struggling to keep up with play as the Dragons went on to stretch their advantage by scoring 27 points, while Sabah managed to pick up only eight.
With a 29-point advantage at the start of the final period, Kuala Lumpur felt safe to drop their tempo and allowed Sabah to score 22 points but was not enough to win the game.
In the other match, Sarawak managed to stage an upset after scoring more baskets in the final period to steal the win from Perak.
Both teams were neck-to-neck from start to finish but the visitors, despite trailing by two points at the start of the final quarter, managed to end the game at 73-67 to register another win.
