Cambodia wins against Macao in China

Cambodia ( Bue) take on Vietnam Ho Chi Minh in a Pre Sea Games Warm Up match before leaving for China

Cambodia started off the blocks in the 2011 China-Asean Invitational Tournament with a win over their counterparts from Macao 77-65 in the opening game of the Eleven Team (nine Nation) Tournament taking place in the Nanning City of Guangxi, China.

The Flag Bearers from the Kingdom were inspired by the foreign imports of Pek Mith, Sop Oeun, and Boroth Thach had to weather the storm in the first two quarters to fight back to take the lead in the third quarter. A late rally by the Macao team in the fourth quarter was not good enough to deny the Kingdom its first Victory in International Basketball Competition.

Cambodia was rattled in the first half going down 40-26 before seizing momentum in the 3rd Quarter finishing 59-49.

Taking the lead into the final quarter, Cambodia grew in confidence and began to play with more cohesion and understanding to outdo the pace and strength of the Macao team with Boroth Thach dictating the pace in the middle of the pack.

The last quarter saw both sides making point for points and with 1:30minutes left on the clock; Cambodia increased the lead to 15 points. They got stuck in their own zone as the clock ran down and Macao reduced the tally to finish 77-65 at the hooter.

The three Foreign based players once again dominated play and points as all three shared 67 points among them. Sop, 25, Pek 21 and Boroth 21 points to the good.

“It was a great Game, We cannot underrate any team in this tournament, as you can see we were up by 8-0 in the first Quarter and before we could realize it, they came back at us and led the first Quarter 20-14” says Head Coach Austin Koledoye moments after the game.

“We were knocked off in the first half” says Sopouen Ouen who finished with 25 points for the Cambodian side. “We picked momentum in the third quarter and it was great to see us hold out for the win” the US based player added

Meanwhile Swedish based Player Boroth Thach blamed the lack of team chemistry for their lack luster first half although commended the lads for having a good fighting spirit.

“The team Chemistry is not yet there” he stated “We are doing good no doubt, we need time to get to understand each other and once we start to play as a team, we can beat any team” Says Boroth Thach who took charge during the third quarter.

“We got to play more as a team rather than individually” “We were rattled in the first half, but in the second round, I had to take responsibility and started to share the ball around and it helped us to finish the third quarter 33-9” remarked Bi Thach.

The Experienced foreign trio spectacular display obviously helped to instill confidence in the local lads despite having to lose homeboy Monh Ratana in the first quarter, the other local players contributed their quota to the victory.

“We as foreign based have to show what we got, we tried to show we are a strong team and give the local players confidence and in the third quarter they up their game” enthused Boroth.

"With this victory, we will go into the next game tomorrow (Wednesday) with confidence but respect for the Chinese team. A win will put us in good position to qualify from this group" the Nigerian born tactician Austin Koledoye enthused.

In the other Group B fixtures Cambodia will trade hoops with China Guangxi on Wednesday, Vietnam Hanoi on Thursday and Chinese Taipei on Friday.

Group A comprise of Host China Pingguo, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Laos, Singapore and Myammar.

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