The ACL Kings have stunned the Tribes Coffee in a strong 52-all draw at the Sir John Guise Stadium Indoor Complex during the Port Moresby Elite Basketball competition round 9 match on Wednesday evening, October 23rd, 2024.
The team full of enthusiastic talents were a few seconds short of breaking a Tribes undefeated winning streak since the competition was launched.
Player-coach Donald Kala said it all came down to the team’s discipline on court as the young side took on a strong team.
“We told the boys that skills can win the game, but it all comes down to the discipline on court, despite a few of our players benched out for personal fouls. We had to use the remaining players on the bench who performed to their full capacity," Kala said.
“Most of our boys are all young, we don’t have any experienced PNG representative players on our side in the team, even me as a coach. I volunteered and it became a full-time job for the team, so it’s a learning curve for us all.”
Meanwhile, ahead of this fixture, the Saints women defeated the Togoba Coffee with a 64-37 points before the CivPac Amessi men put on a classy performance against the North West Wizard, defeating them with a 90-65 scoreline in the triple header showdown.
In the main fixture, the Kings took an early lead in the first quarter with a 12-7 margin ahead of the men-in green. The second quarter saw a strong offense and defense played by both sides that saw Kings extend their lead to a 29-20 points at half time.
Kings, through their players Charlie Bradley, Mekere Tete and Opex Kima managed to score most points in the paint before the Tribes placed a strong offense game against them in the third quarter to trail closely with a 32-38 points.
In the fourth quarter, it came down to the wire with Tribes picking up pace to level the game by a point or two before the buzzer sounded for a full time.
This match also saw Tribes skipper Collin Pine, Corelius Muri, Allan Millard and Eddie Mosses all contributing most team points to level the score with a draw, a few seconds before full time.
“Tribes had a strong side but it was a great match up for us in both offense and defense, we need to work extra hard ahead of our last round match against the Moni Plus net week,” Kala added.
Meanwhile, the Tribes Coffee are in the lead on the ladder registering 8 wins and a draw after game nine. They are one step closer to securing the minor premiership ahead of the finals week in early November.
PC: PEB
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