Martinez hits record nine 3-pointers in Vietnam cage tourney

MANILA, Philippines — Veteran Filipino guard and international campaigner James Martinez set the record for the most number of 3-point shots in a single game, but failed to get enough firepower to support him as his Ho Chi Minh City Wings squad dropped a 105-123 loss to Can Tho Catfish in the new season of the Vietnam Basketball Association Star X just recently.

Martinez, who played in the PBA for the Powerade Tigers team in the 2011-2012 season and multiple squads in the MPBL, unloaded nine 3-pointers, a record for the most number of treys in a game, while also finishing with 34 points.

Unfortunately for Martinez, his prolific shooting wasn’t complemented enough by the Wings.

Martinez hit his first trey in the 8:49 mark of the opening period that put the Wings up front, 6-4.

But a 7-2 run by the Catfish allowed them to take an early 15-8 lead and both teams battled it out closely until Can Tho’s running went in high gear and posted its first significant lead, 30-21.

Martinez hit two more treys, scored on a long jumper then picked up a foul while attempting from beyond the arc and completed all three free throws in the second quarter, but the Catfish’s running game was in high gear as the team took a commanding 65-51 at the half.

The Wings went scoreless in the first two-and-a-half minutes of the third, until Martinez broke the silence with a trey, but by that time, the Catfish were already pulling away, 74-54.

He hit another triple before being replaced in the latter stretch of the third, then added another conversation from the top of the key, but the Catfish answered back with six unanswered points as the Wings couldn’t come any closer.

Martinez kicked off the start of the fourth just the way he wanted, hitting eight of his team’s 15 points that triggered a big run for the Wings, who climbed their way back to within eight, 86-94, with still 7:09 left.

But Tran Dang Khoa, Martinez’s scoring partner in the backcourt, suffered from cramps after shoving the Wings within 90-96, and that served as a telling blow for Ho Chi Minh City, which didn’t have enough legs to catch up with the fast-paced game of the Catfish.