Barracudas vs Slingers game analysis: Slingers learn how to win on the road

By Les Tan/Red Sports

Brunei Indoor Stadium, Saturday, October 24, 2009 – The Singapore Slingers passed their first away test when they ground out a gritty 82-80 win against a competitive Brunei Barracudas. This was the third successive victory in their ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) campaign and they now have a perfect 3-wins-0-losses record. The Barracudas fell to 1-3.

No team can do well in the playoffs without learning how to win on the road and so this win will boost their confidence. After entertaining Satria Muda BritAma this Sunday at home, the Slingers will take to the road again against the Philippine Patriots on November 7th.

Match Verdict
It was a close game with the Barracudas establishing a 10-point lead in the second quarter at one stage before the Slingers whittled it down to three. The Slingers walked off at half-time trailing by five at 39-44.

The Slingers, who had trailed for two and a half quarters, then turned things around in the third with nine straight points, their biggest scoring run in the game. Sandwiched in there was the go-ahead 3-point basket by Hong Wei Jian to put them over at 51-50.

They established their biggest lead of eight-point (74-66) in the fourth with a Michael LeBlanc basket but the Slinger lead was cut to four with 2:32 left. For the next minute and a half, there was no scoring as nerves got the better of both teams. Barracuda Michael Pilgrim missed two field goals while Slingers Vergara and Jeffers also missed their baskets.

LeBlanc finally sank a jumper with one minute left and he expressed his relief and elation with a salute as the ball swished through the net. Slinger nerves were now calmer with a six-point, 79-73 lead.

After a Barracuda timeout, the two teams traded two-point baskets but with 16 seconds left, Lonnie Jones missed two free throws. Francis Adriano (2-pt) and Leonidez Avenido (3-pt) made it a two-point game but the Slingers had done enough to win 82-80.

Team Verdict
The team took awhile to get going in the first half and were getting outrebounded, yielding their opponents a lot of second-chance points.

“We were a bit slow in the beginning. We just had no energy,” said forward and co-captain Kyle Jeffers. “For myself, I was lacking energy. I could tell from the warm up that we didn’t have the bounce. It was something we had to find.”

Co-captain Michael Wong also felt the same way.

“The first two quarters, we weren’t doing good defense. We weren’t pressurising the ball, we were letting them do whatever they want, that’s why their [shooting] percentage was a bit higher in the first half. Then in the second half, we started getting into our defense, started getting into their heads, and that made the difference,” said Michael.

The Slingers’ field goal, 3-point and free throw shooting were crucial in their victory, a point that LeBlanc emphasised.

“That’s the story of the game right here,” said LeBlanc as we went over the stats. “We went 12 of 16 from the free throw line. That’s not tremendously great, but 75% is better than their 56%. They were 15 of 27 and lost the game by two points.

“If you look at the game in hindsight, those are huge factors. We also shot 53% from the three-point line, 10 of 19. On the road, that’s humongous, to get those extra points. Championships are won on defense and free throws. From free throws, we did a great job, especially in the fourth quarter,” said LeBlanc.

Players Verdict
All 10 players on the Slinger roster saw playing time. As expected, Al Vergara (34:58), Kyle Jeffers (39:18) and Michael LeBlanc (35:45) saw the bulk of playing time while Michael Wong (25:58) had the most playing time among the locals.

Jeffers (17 points) and LeBlanc (32 points) accounted for the bulk of Slinger scoring with 49 points while point guard Vergara accounted for 17. The three of them were responsible for 66 of the 80 Slinger points.

View from the Sidelines
The intimate nature of the 5,000-seater Brunei Indoor Stadium is a perfect venue for basketball games with the top tier of seats close enough to the court.

With a low ceiling, the sound coming from the 1,000-strong Bruneian crowd was loud and they erupted passionately in the third quarter when their centre Lonnie Jones got called for a foul on Slinger Michael LeBlanc.

On a few other occasions in the third quarter, they protested just as loudly along with their coach Bong Ramos about contentious calls made by the Indonesian and Thai umpires.

They were a sporting crowd, applauding the Slingers when they were introduced but were clearly behind their team when the game started.

The first half was hard to watch if you were a Slinger fan. The Barracudas starting five are a formidable bunch and looked much tighter as a unit compared to their first game in Singapore. However, their bench strength isn’t there and that was the difference.

The Barracudas only used eight players on the night, with Bruneians Esmond Tan (17:13), Lim Chee Choun (8:01) and Benjamin Sim (10:41) seeing limited playing time.

It was good to see Slinger Desmond Oh make the starting five for the first time, a result of his hard work in training.

“I was happy. I was surprised,” said Desmond. “The coach wanted me to make the [Barracudas] point guard work a bit more.”

Desmond saw 8:49 minutes of playing time, had three fouls and scored one point.

Conclusion
The Slinger victory revealed a team that is calm and doesn’t panic during crunch time.

“It’s good for us to show that if we continue pushing and fighting, we can come out and get a gritty, gritty win. It’s our first away game and so there’s a lot for us to learn and adjust to but I think we did ok,” said Jeffers.

Michael Wong agreed as well.

“We kept our heads up. We stuck to our game plan and we fine tuned a lot of things we weren’t doing in the first half. Some of us didn’t execute in the first half but I’m glad we stuck with it and came out with a win,” said Michael.

Key to that is their superior fitness, which gave them the edge over the Barracudas in the third quarter.

“We got a lot of easy shots. Maybe about 10 easy buckets in the second half off turnovers,” said Jeffers. “We had fast breaks, straight to the cup. We just continued to wear them down. Their ball handler just got tired. Like Jones, he was real good in the first half, but I don’t think he really did anything in the second half.”

The defensive ability of the Slingers stood out as well, as they shut down the Barracudas in the second half.

Added Jeffers: “[Barracuda Michael] Pilgrim, he was taking a lot of shots. Some of them were good, some of them were not that good. At times that he was shooting, I was glad, because he was making the job easier for us.

“I think he felt that he had to take the game into his hands at times, and sometimes, that’s not necessarily the right thing to do. I think that was because of our team defense. That was definitely our key to our win this time around.”

Despite their 1-3 record, the Barracudas cannot be dismissed, believes LeBlanc.

“It was a tough game. They are definitely an improved team in all areas. I just wanted a win, man. Every time I get on court, I don’t worry about stats. I just worry about the bottom line at the end of the game. I was very pleased that we found a way to win.

“We didn’t play a great game. Some may say we didn’t deserve to win but the final score, we won by two points. That’s the goal every time we step on the court – to be the team which has the most points at the end.

“They [the Barracudas] played wonderful, man. We were just fortunate tonight to make the big plays when it counted. Al [Vergara] hit a couple of huge shots, Marcus got a couple of huge shots, free throws as well. Thank goodness for Desmond hitting those two free throws at the end,” said LeBlanc.

Down the road, the head-to-head record between the teams will be key, said coach Frank Arsego.

“Now if they beat us in the third game, we still go ahead 2-1 [head-to-head]. So if we draw with them or are tied [in the table], if they equaled us, they actually have to get another game some where else to go above us.

“The head-to-head record with everybody is going to be really important at the end of the season and we’re lucky we have one [head-to-head win] three weeks in,” Arsego added.

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