SEA Games Basketball: Singapore go down 75-80 to Indonesia in heartbreaker

By Les Tan/Red Sports

Jakarta, Wednesday, November 16, 2011 — Singapore suffered a hearbreaking 75-80 loss to Indonesia that also cost them a semi-final place in the South-east Asian (SEA) Games basketball tournament.

Singapore led 59-54 at the start of the fourth but the Indonesians, on the back of six 3-pointers in the fourth quarter alone, led 73-72 with two minutes left. Singapore trailed by only three (75-78) with 38 seconds to go but Indonesia closed out the match in front of their partisan home crowd.

Singapore were led by Koh Meng Koon and Pathman Matialakan who both had a team-high 17 points each. Steven Khoo had 14 and Lim Shengyu, 12.

Singapore, with a 1-2 win-loss record, finish third in their group and will now play Vietnam in the 5th/6th playoff match. Indonesia (3-0) will play Thailand (1-2) in one semi-final while the other semi-final will see the defending champions Philippines (3-0) take on Malaysia (2-1).

Yet it looked so bright for Singapore for the first three quarters. Our boys in red led 22-16 in the first and still managed to outscore the Indonesians 20-16 in the second to take a 10-point, 42-32 lead into the half-time break.

The Indonesia came out strong in the third quarter, outscoring Singapore 15-6 in the first five minutes. Though the Indonesians managed to tie it up 50-50 with 3:29 left in the third quarter, our boys still managed to keep their noses ahead at 59-54 by the end of the third.

However, the Indonesians exploded with six 3-pointers from nine attempts in the fourth, outscoring our boys 26-16 in the final quarter.

Quarter by Quarter Scores
Singapore vs Indonesia
1st Q: 22-16
2nd Q: 20-16 (42-32)
3rd Q: 17-22 (59-54)
4th Q: 16-26 (75-80)

Top Scorers
Singapore
Koh Meng Koon (#10) — 17 points
Pathman (#15) — 17
Steven Khoo (#13) — 14
Lim Shengyu (#12) — 12

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