Third quarter spurt propels Slingers to decisive 87-69 win over Barracudas in ABL

Story by Erwin Wong, Jan Lin and Koh Yizhe/Red Sports. Photos by Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports.

Singapore Indoor Stadium, Sunday, October 11, 2009 - With an early nine-point lead in the season-opening match and the opponents on the rack, the last thing the Singapore Slingers needed was to allow the Brunei Barracudas back into the game.

That they did after a tactical masterstroke from Barracudas coach Geraldo Ramos, but the Slingers pulled away with an authoritative third quarter display to clinch their first ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) win with a decisive 87-69 victory.

The usual suspects carried the scoring load for the Slingers, with Michael LeBlanc scoring 20 points and Kyle Jeffers adding 15 to lead five Slingers in double figures. The latter was a monster on the boards, cleaning up for 20 rebounds, while LeBlanc had 10 of his own for a double-double as well.

Wong Wei Long, though, was a surprise entry on the scoring leader board with his 14 points off the bench. The backup point guard, who averaged 3.7 points in pre-season, was deadly from three-point range and scored all four of his treys in the second and third periods, which was when the game turned on its head.

After Steven Khoo scored inside for a 25-16 lead a minute into the second period, it looked like the Slingers would run away with it. Their lightning-quick running game and pressure defence right from tip-off flummoxed the Barracudas into two quick turnovers, and coach Ramos had to call for a timeout barely three minutes in.

His second one, with 7:16 to go in the half after Leonidez Avenido had scored to cut the deficit to seven, stymied the Slingers the rest of the period. The Barracudas came out with a 1-2-2 zone defence which caught the Slingers off-guard, and four consecutive missed shots and a 13-2 run later, the Bruneian team found themselves with their first lead of the match.

“I credit their coach who did a fantastic job," said Slingers head coach Frank Arsego after the match. "They went to a zone defence, which is something that we haven’t had any practice against apart from our own training, and so that was a challenge and obviously our shooting wasn’t up to standard and that allowed them back in."

LeBlanc answered back with a three-pointer for a 30-29 Slinger lead, but both teams traded leads back and forth over the next two minutes before Wei Long leveled the scores at 35 and cancelled out the Barracudas' largest lead of the game with a wing trey, and was fouled on the shot for a chance for the rare four-point play. But he missed from the charity stripe and was a dismal 0 of 5 from the line for the game, something which he addressed after the game that he had to work on, among other things.

"My ball handling isn't good yet. I still have a lot to learn from Al (Vergara). My free throws are also something that I have to work on - I shot zero out of five!" said the full-time national serviceman. "The stage is very big with this being the first ABL game so I have to say I was rather nervous. However, this is no excuse and I'll have to improve on this area."

The Slingers took a slim 38-37 lead into the second half, but the Barracudas fell apart after that as the Slingers ran riot from then on. Vergara's three-pointer after brilliant ball-movement from his teammates set the tone right from the onset of the period, which saw the Bruneian defence wilt under pressure.

The Slingers scored nine unanswered points, and by the time Avenido ended his team's futility on their offensive end with a reverse layup, they trailed by double digits to a rampant Slinger team. The lead grew to 14 when Desmond made a wide-open three-pointer for his first field goal of the campaign, 17 with another Wei Long trey, and then to 22 points at 69-47 when he sank his fourth from downtown. This was not lost on Barracudas' coach Ramos, who put up Wei Long's name when asked which local Slinger impressed him the most.

"The local point guard; the one who was taking the three-pointers. I was surprised he was a good shooter."

A modest Wei Long attributed it to the team for his quickfire points. "It was thanks to the team that I was able to play the way I did. We executed the plays well and I managed to get some open threes."

And although he ended the quarter with a couple of missed free throws, it failed to take the shine off a commanding team performance which saw excellent ball movement (9 assists on 13 made field goals), steely defence and steady possessions (forcing 5 turnovers while only committing 1), all of which translated into a healthy lead after outscoring their opponents by more than double in this key third quarter.

Slingers coach Arsego was pleased with the win, and especially with the third-quarter turnaround after a tepid second. “I told them I think we had to be more assertive. I think we were just turning it off and on, and I didn’t think we had the energy level to match their energy level. I think that has to be one of the key ingredients for our group because once we did that, I think the game opened up in a big way.”

The Barracudas could only close to within 13 points in the final quarter, which saw Hong Wei Jian back under the spotlight after Wei Long's earlier three-point exhibition. Wei Jian, still nursing a hand injury sustained last week, had two crowd-pleasing dunks, but was delighted with his ball-handling as well.

He said, "I had no turnovers today - a first for me. I didn't get to shoot much, but managed to get two dunks. If I had to rate my performance, I would say it's a 7 out of 10."

American import Mike Pilgrim led the Barracudas with 16 points, but was beset with foul trouble early on, and eventually fouled out with 7:21 to play, as did Filipino import Celedo Camaso. His countryman Avenido added 15 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists, but Ramos was pleased with the efforts from the local players who brought points and rebounds off the bench.

"I’m happy especially for Esmond and Lim Chee Choun. I’m happy for these two guys as they really tried their best, worked very hard, and this is a very good experience for them."

Lonnie Jones, Pilgrim's teammate and fellow American, had 13 points, 8 rebounds and 5 blocks, including a huge swat of Lim Wai Sian's wing trey late in the game.

"I'm a positive player and I did not feel that he would block my shot when I saw him coming my way. But perhaps I should have faked the shot attempt."

Wai Sian made his debut in the game midway through the fourth quarter, which was his first Slinger minutes since the second quarter of the game against Ginebra Kings nearly two weeks ago. He stayed positive despite his lack of court action.

"I'm not angry over this, but I will need train harder as we are all fighting for playing time."

He closed the game out with four other local players - Pathman, Steven, Michael Wong and Desmond - as they played the final 1:58 together that was an encouragement to local players here who dream of playing on a bigger stage.

Arsego said, “My job is to be successful with the group and my job is to give experience and opportunities to our players, and as the season goes on, I want to reward the guys who have put in (effort) at training.”

One of them is Wei Jian, who is still basking in the moment. "It is definitely a dream come true for me to be able to play professional basketball in Singapore - something not many people have done."

The Slingers will next play the Philippine Patriots next Sunday, October 18, at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. The latter beat a much-favoured Satria Muda Britama team in Jakarta yesterday, and it promises to be an intriguing matchup.

"I’m sure that we will be challenged. They have their imports and Filipino players," said Arsego. "For us, we have to put in some good preparations. We have to spend time on improving the things that we didn’t do well here today.”

It will also be back to the drawing board for Ramos, as he has only three days to prepare for the Barracudas' next game against the Kuala Lumpur Dragons, while he reflects on today's match with the Slingers.

"Honestly, this is our first game, which is like a tune-up again for us. We haven’t had a tune-up game. My two American imports have been here for around two weeks only. The way I looked at it, I’m happy, the team didn’t give up. Perhaps more games and training is needed to work on a lot of things."

Scoring breakdown by quarter:
Singapore Slingers v Brunei Barracudas
1st Q: 20-13
2nd Q: 18-24
3rd Q: 31-15
4th Q: 18-17
Final score: 87-69

Singapore Slingers Game Box Score

Brunei Barracudas Game Box Score

Singapore Slingers 2009/10 ABL schedule