Story by Koh Yizhe/Red Sports
Wong Wei Long of the Slingers heaves a sight of relief after sealing victory for the Slingers with his clutch free throw shooting in the dying seconds of the game. Wei Long finished with 10 points to lead the locals. (Photo 1 © Tan Jon Han/Red Sports)
Singapore Indoor Stadium, Sunday, January 13, 2013 — The Singapore Slingers began their 2013 ASEAN Basketball League campaign with an exciting 56-50 home win over the Thailand Slammers.
It could have gone very differently as the Slingers nearly let a double-digit first-half lead slip away, but thanks to clutch free throws from point guards Wong Wei Long and Donald Dulay with less than 30 seconds remaining, they hung on to start the season on a positive note.
The match was hardly an offensive spectacle as both teams were poor on offence, making less than 35% of their shots. However, it was the Slingers who pulled off the necessary defensive stops to keep the Slammers at bay.
The Slingers’ American Rashad Jones-Jennings had a decent first game, recording a double-double of 11 points and 12 rebounds. His fellow countryman Kyle Jeffers also had a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds while Wong Wei Long also scored 10 points to lead the locals.
Justin Howard had a game-high 13 points and 14 boards while Michael Earl recorded 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Slammers.
Both teams took some time to get their engines going and shot horribly to start the match. Jeffers got the first basket of the match, but that was only one of three shots made by the Slingers despite 18 attempts in the opening 10 minutes.
The team from Thailand did not do much better either and that allowed the Slingers to hold a slim 10-8 lead at the end of the first quarter.
In the second period, the Slingers turned up the style as a barrage of threes from Desmond Oh, Wei Long and Jun Cabatu extended the home side’s lead to 14 points. They handled the ball well and took their chances, making more than 50% of their attempts.
The Slingers were extremely comfortable and could afford to bring on back-up centre Delvin Goh to give Jeffers a well-deserved break. The 17-year-old played for a good five minutes in the second period and held his own against the more experienced imports.
The Slammers failed to keep up with them and that allowed the Slingers to take a comfortable 35-23 lead going into the half-time break.
Perhaps it was a little complacency that plagued the Slingers in the third quarter as they returned to their poor shooting ways. They failed to run through their offense and were taking bad shots. The Slammers held them to just five points until the last minute when Mitchell Folkoff nailed a trey to give the Slingers a 43-37 lead.
The last quarter was an intense tussle between the two teams as the Slammers tried to wrest the lead from the home team. The Slingers were given a scare when Jones-Jennings went down hard after a failed dunk attempt, with the visitors trailing by just five points at 47-52 and two minutes remaining on the clock.
Froilan Baguion, who had a field day running circles around the Slingers, split a pair of free throws at the other end before Howard made it a three-point game after a layup with time winding down. However, the Slingers displayed enough composure as Wei Long and Dulay nailed their free throws to ice the game.
“We were lucky to get the win after shooting like that,” admitted Slingers head coach Neo Beng Siang after the game. “32% shooting is not good enough. We have to shoot at least 40% every game.”
“The local boys were nervous today, but at least we got through the game. There is room for improvement. There will be more time on court for those who step up. Our offence was not good, but we were aggressive on defence and did a good defensive job,” added the head coach.
As it turned out, Jones-Jennings’ injury scare was just cramps and nothing to worry about. The American felt he has a lot more to offer to the team.
“I’m not too thrilled about my personal performance,” said the towering forward. “But this is a team win so I’m happy about that. There are things that I need to clean up in my own game, but we’ve got to take the good with the bad. It happens.”
“I’m not too worried though because I know my team mates will pick up the slack.”
The Slingers will go against the Slammers again in an away game in Bangkok on January 25th.
Score by Quarters
Slingers vs Slammers
1st Q: 10-8
2nd Q: 25-15 (35-23)
3rd Q: 8-14 (43-37)
4th Q: 13-13 (56-50)
Slingers: Jones-Jennings — 11 pts, Jeffers — 10 pts, Wei Long — 10 pts, Dulay — 8 pts, Folkoff — 7pts, Cabatu — 7 pts, Oh — 3 pts.
Slammers: Howard — 13 pts, Earl — 10 pts, Baguion — 7 pts, Dawson — 8 pts, Kongkum — 6 pts, Klahan — 4 pts, Apiromvilaichai — 2 pts.
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