The Saigon Heat displayed impeccable offense and tight defense from start to finish as they came away with an emphatic 114-81 victory over the Westports Malaysia Dragons on Sunday at the MABA Stadium in Kuala Lumpur.
The Heat’s 33-point win is the franchise’s biggest win against Malaysia.
The Heat used a brutal second period to pull away against the home team. With Moses Morgan leading the way, the Heat poured in 36 points in the pivotal quarter and limited the Dragons to just 14 points. Morgan had 19 points, including five three-pointers in the first half alone.
Morgan ended up with a game-high 26 points and Maxie Esho provided 25 points and 9 rebounds. Akeem Scott and Mikey Williams meanwhile combined for 45 points, 13 rebounds, and 11 assists to dominate the guard position.
The Heat were up by only six points after the first quarter but put their foot on the gas pedal in the succeeding quarter. They enjoyed a lead as high as 35 points in the lopsided contest.
The Dragons’ AJ West had a big double-double of 22 points and 17 rebound and Kuek Tian Yuan netted 17 points. Joshua Munzon was on fire to start the game to score 10 first quarter points, however, he would only score seven more for the rest of the way. Marcus Marshall was in action on Sunday’s game but was still hampered by his nagging knee injury. Marshall only ended up with 2 points in just 13 minutes.
Malaysia only shot 36 percent from the field, including a woeful 6-for-31 shooting from downtown. They also committed 21 turnovers which Saigon capitalized into 33 points.
The Heat now improve to 6-6 for the season. The Dragons on the other hand have now lost sixth straight for a 3-10 record.