In their fourth meeting of the season, the Mono Vampire Basketball Club and the Saigon Heat provided yet another classic shootout.
Mono overwhelmed the Heat, 118-113, to dominate the season series, three games to one.
Sam Deguara and Michael Singletary used a two-pronged attack to lead Mono.
Singletary earned Player of the Game honors with his numbers of a season0high 35 points to go with 15 rebounds, and 8 assists.
Not to be outdone, Deguara put in his season high of 33 points and 14 rebounds. The 7-foot-5 center’s sheer size proved to be too much for the Heat as he went on to miss only one shot from the field in 15 attempts.
Both teams traded buckets like a pair of heavyweight fighters. Every time someone tried to pull away, the other would find a way to counter.
With Deguara owning the shaded lane, Mono ended up with a whopping 78 points in the paint. As a team, they were scorching from the field with 58 percent shooting.
The Heat tried to outshoot Deguara and Mono by taking the game outside in the perimeter. Saigon got bullied inside the paint but went 14-for-27 from downtown.
Maxie Esho had a game-high 38 points while also grabbing 17 boards. Mikey Williams, who struggled in their last meeting, bounced back in a big way by scoring 24 points, including 5 three-pointers. Unfortunately for the Heat, David Arnold was hampered by foul trouble while Moses Morgan got hurt in the second half and was not able to finish the game.
A jumper by Esho made it a 3-point game with two and a half minutes remaining as the Heat were playing catch-up. But Mono delivered the finishing kick courtesy of back-to-back baskets by Paul Zamar and Chitchai Ananti.
Mono has now improved to a 10-5 record while the Heat go 6-7.
