Impressive Singapore Slingers beat Coca-Cola Tigers in pre-season match

Story by Erwin Wong/Red Sports. Photos by Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports.

Singapore Indoor Stadium, Friday, September 18, 2009 - Local basketball fans had their first peek at the new-look Singapore Slingers team as they beat Philippine outfit Coca-Cola Tigers 93-85 in the first of 4 pre-ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) season matches.

However, it was the Slingers themselves who needed this maiden competitive performances to gauge how far their preparations for the inaugural league have come.

"The result wasn't the most important thing. It was just a by-product of what we trained for," said Slingers head coach Frank Arsego. "We wanted to see what we could execute, and also whether we could defend."

And Arsego had reason to be relatively pleased with his charges, as the Slingers overcame two blown double-digit leads to beat the Tigers 93-85 in an up-tempo and highly-competitive game.

"We were not expecting anything else (from the Tigers), as they are a very mature team. This gave us an opportunity to experience some physicality, and to develop as a team," continued Arsego. "And I think our performance was pretty good."

Arsego was spot-on with his assessment of his opponents. Despite finishing 9th and 8th out of 10 teams in the 2008/09 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA)'s Philippine Cup and Fiesta Conference respectively, they boasted of players like man-mountain Pauliasi ´Asi' Taulava, who had led the earlier conference in rebounds per game, as well as league-leading assist and three-point field goal percentage players Alex Cabagnot and Mark Macapagal.

And they came out firing, leading by five points twice early in the first period, as the Slingers struggled with their stroke, as well as their containment of the Tigers' lightning-quick transition offence. The hosts surprised many as their starting lineup of Al Vergara, Lim Wai Sian, Hong Wei Jian, Pathman Matialakan and Kyle Jeffers included three local-born players, but it was returning point guard Vergara and American import Jeffers who held the offensive fort for their team early on.

Vergara fed the big centre with a brilliant alley-oop on the Slingers' opening possession of the game, and although Jeffers missed the layup, the two combined to great effect as they scored their team's first nine points, before Steven Khoo gave the Slingers their first lead of the match at 11-10 with his first touch of the ball.

The Tigers then sped to a 16-11 lead, but the local boys started to find their feet again, led by Wei Jian. The 24-year-old fearlessly drove down the Tigers' defensive paint countless times, and when he found his range with mid-range jumpers, they were, more often than not, timely. Wei Jian's trey tied the game at 16, and another long-range bomb from Michael Wong after Pathman's feed made it 20-20, and the Slingers did not look back from there.

Jamal Brown, a short-term squad replacement for Michael LeBlanc, then scored four quick points before finding Wei Jian on the outlet pass for the latter to beat the first-quarter buzzer with a layup for two of his 12 points in the game.

The momentum was now clearly with the Slingers, and Jeffers worked his way inside to extend their lead to eight upon resumption. The lead was halved after Larry Rodreguez corralled an offensive board and scored, but Brown, Jeffers and Vergara scored the next nine points of the game before the Tigers' coaching staff called for a timeout, with their team trailing 24-37 with 6:16 remaining in the period.

They responded in gritty fashion. After Slingers' Desmond Oh made a tremendous defensive play on a Tigers' fast-break and teammate Marcus Ng knifed between three defenders to convert a twisting layup, the Tigers climbed all the way back with a 13-2 run, capped by Taulava's second 3-pointer of the game which reduced the Slingers' lead to only two. Both teams traded baskets, before Vergara gave his team some badly-needed breathing room when his running trey from way behind the three-point arc found nothing but net, the fans celebrating even as the half-time buzzer went off.

The Slingers, determined not to let their opponents back into the game, controlled most of the third quarter, and were handed a huge boost when the Tigers entered the penalty zone with about half of the period to play after several needless fouls. Steven's hook bank shot gave his team the largest lead of the game at 64-50, but once again, the Tigers dug in and clawed their way back into the game.

Macapagal's 3-point play reduced the deficit to a single digit, and three consecutive Slingers' turnovers, two steals and a long three from Macapagal later, the Tigers were back in it, and trailed only 62-64 entering the final quarter.

"It was down to our individual mistakes," said Wei Jian about the two large leads which they let slip. "But we had to be mentally tough to deal with it."

And that the Slingers did. The starting five trooped onto the court determined to wrestle the initiative away from their opponents, and Vergara was at the helm of proceedings. He drained two 3-pointers and assisted Wei Jian and Wai Sian on consecutive baskets as they opened an eight-point lead, but Macapagal answered back with a couple of long-range jumpers of his own, part of his 14 fourth-quarter points.

The match was end-to-end stuff as both teams traded basket after basket, but the Slingers were finally able to get the defensive stops they needed. They carved out yet another 14-point lead which put the game to bed late in the 4th quarter, as time finally ran out on the Tigers as the Slingers wrapped it up 93-85.

"I think we were pretty decent, considering that we had only trained together for four weeks," said Michael Wong after the game. "But we could have done better, as we were passive at times. It (his first possession of the game when he was stripped of the ball) was a wake-up call for me. And it's tough to play in the cold!"

Coach Arsego was generally pleased with his charges, and singled out three of them who did well. "Wei Jian has the flair to bring people in. Kyle did a good job, as did Al."

The Slingers will play their next match of the Challenge Series against the Smart Gilas Pilipinas, the national team's developmental squad on Wednesday, September 23, and Arsego will be looking for his team to carry on the good work they have started.

"This will be as close to the ABL as we can get. We hope for more of the same from our team on Wednesday."

He continued, "The crowd was great today, this being the first pre-season game. We hope they can believe in us, because we have something to offer."

Be at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on Wednesday in person, to find out what the Singapore Slingers have to show.

Scoring by quarters:
Coca-Cola Tigers v Singapore Slingers
1st Q: 20-26
2nd Q: 21-20
3rd Q: 21-18
4th Q: 23-29
Final score: 85-93

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