Black Bears Rain Down 16 Triples to Beat Dragons at Home

Kenny Manigault

The last game of their long home-stand was enough to pull the Macau Black Bears to .500 as they defeated the Kuala Lumpur Dragons, 97-87, Wednesday night at Hall D, The Venetian Macao. It was once again Macau's outstanding one-two punch that did most of the damage with reigning ABL Player of Week Kenny Manigault (196-G/F-91, college: Pikeville) flirting with a triple-double, finishing with 30 points, 11 rebounds, and seven assists. Mikh McKinney (184-G-92, college: Sacramento St.), meanwhile, top-scored for the Black Bears with 34 points, six rebounds, and eight assists. It was still a tight contest past the midway mark of the third quarter with Macau only leading by a single point, 57-56, after a Cade Davis (197-F/G-88, college: Oklahoma) free throw. It was caused by a technical foul whistled against Black Bears head coach Charles Hantoumakos but it only proved to spark a rally for the home team. Manigault exploded for 11 points in the final 3:36 of the third period to power Macau to a 13-4 run and build a 70-60 advantage heading into the final quarter. The Black Bears did a great job of keeping the Dragons at bay as they had answers to every rally attempt from the visitors and it was McKinney who finally broke Kuala Lumpur's back with back-to-back threes, the second of which turned out to be a four-point play to give his team an 87-70 lead. Because of this game's result, three teams in the chasing pack are now at .500 with the Dragons at 4-4, the Formosa Dreamers at 6-6, and the Black Bears at 7-7. Macau once again showed that when their three-point shots are falling, they can defeat any team in the league. The Black Bears converted 16 triples against the Dragons with McKinney and Jenning Leung getting five conversions each. Manigault added four long bombs while Lao Chon Pong also connected with two off the bench. Although Jasonn Hannibal (211-C-88, college: Portland) did not produce heavy numbers with only eight points and six rebounds, his presence on defense lifted Macau and Leung was able to chip in double-digits in scoring with 17 to help McKinney and Manigault. Will Artino (211-C/F-92, college: Creighton) led Kuala Lumpur with another double-double as he put up 28 points and 10 rebounds. Amir Bell (193-G-96, college: Princeton) also finished with 28 points while adding eight rebounds, and five assists. The missing link for the Dragons was Davis who still managed 12 points but struggled from the field with only four makes in 15 tries. Next up for the Dragons is another road game against the Formosa Dragons on February 1 while the Black Bears take a long break before facing off against Kuala Lumpur again, this time at the MABA Stadium on February 9.
Courtesy of: aseanbasketballleague.com

Tags : KENNY MANIGAULT, MACAU BLACK BEARS, MACAU BASKETBALL