Slingers wrap up ABL pre-season with win over Air 21 Express

Story by Kenneth Tan/Red Sports. Pictures by Vanessa Lim/Red Sports and Tham Chen Munn

Singapore Indoor Stadium, Sunday, September 19, 2010 — The Singapore Slingers wrapped up their preparations for the upcoming ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) by beating Philippines’ Air 21 Express 80-65.

Five players reached double digits for the Slingers. New American import Marcus Skinner was the top scorer with 26 points, followed by new Filipino import Leo Avenido with 14. Kyle Jeffers contributed 13 points while Al Vergara and Desmond Oh chipped in with 11 apiece.

Although falling briefly 5-6 behind in the initial stages of the first quarter, the Slingers rallied together to put together a 8-0 scoring run that saw them go seven points ahead midway through.

That was in no doubt inspired by local Desmond Oh who converted all of his four shot attempts, for nine points in total, with one of them a rare three-pointer.

A late scoring spree towards the end of the quarter saw Air 21 narrow the Slingers’ lead to four at 23-19.

The Slingers carried their momentum into the second quarter by going on a 7-0 run to extend the lead to 11. Even when Air 21 whittled their lead down to six midway through, they simply went on another scoring run to overpower the visiting PBA team — this time, 11 points without reply, to open up a 47-30 lead.

With Desmond Oh rested for this quarter, Marcus Skinner stepped up by contributing 14 points in the second. By the end of the quarter, they reached the 50-point mark, with Air 21 trailing behind on 33.

The third quarter was a slightly closer affair with the Slingers being defensively careless and conceding crucial free throws to the Filipinos. Leo Avenido led the team’s charge by scoring seven points in this quarter.

It was an uneventful 10 minutes before new local Lim Sheng Yu lit up the stage with a buzzer beater that put the Slingers 67-46 ahead. It was his first ever points for the Slingers.

With a massive 21-point lead, Air 21 looked to be dead and buried even before the commencement of the final quarter. However they made things interesting by going on a 9-0 scoring run in the first four minutes after the restart to put themselves within 12 points.

It was a torrid period for the Slingers with their shooting accuracy off-key and being second best to any loose balls, errors which head coach Neo Beng Siang will hope to minimise when the season starts.

Fortunately, they got their game together thereafter as they went on a 9-0 scoring run themselves to reinstate the 21-point lead at 76-55 with a couple of Al Vergara and Avinedo three-pointers.

It allowed time for coach Neo to tamper with his team as he fielded an all-local lineup in the final 90 seconds in Tan Chin Hong, Wong Wei Long, Ng Han Bin, Pathman Matialakan and Steven Khoo.

Despite conceding a late flurry of points, the Slingers prevailed 80-65 in the end to conclude a satisfying pre-season.

“We played very well tonight,” said Desmond Oh after the match. “We have a lot of good transitions, especially Marcus Skinner who had very good rebounds. Without the whole team’s effort, the team won’t do this well.”

The 24-year-old ended up as the highest scoring local in this game, with an impressive 83% shooting accuracy. When asked about his own performance, he said: “I’m quite happy with it, maybe it’s because I prepared well for tonight.”

When asked about the upcoming season, Desmond was bullish about it.

“The team’s understanding with each other is getting better, we (the locals) know how they play and vice versa. Every team is getting stronger so we also have to get stronger as well. We’ve been preparing hard for it and we gonna win it this season. Everyone in the team is aiming to be champions,” he said.

American import Kyle Jeffers, returning for a second season with the Slingers, echoed his teammate’s thoughts.

“We’re working hard in practice to improve our skills and fundamentals. The chemistry’s awesome and everybody’s starting to mould together and figure out their roles. We’re ready to go to the next level. That (Being champions) was our goal last year. Although we fell short then, there is no reason to change it. We have to focus our mindsets and take one game at a time,” said the 25-year-old.

Despite having no friendly matches scheduled in the next two weeks, the Slingers will not be allowed to slacken off during this period, according to Jeffers.

“It’s definitely going to get tougher and more intense. We’ll be doing a lot of optimizing testing and also with strength and conditioning tests coming up. There will be pool recovery after weight sessions so that we’ll be at 110 percent. At the same time, we will be looking after our bodies to ensure we’re getting in shape,” he shared.

The Slingers’ second ABL season will tip off on Sunday, October 3rd against Indonesia’s Satria Muda, their victors in the semi-finals last season. Revenge is definitely on the card for Jeffers and company.

“I want to beat them!” he declared. “We have to come out very aggressively, be ready to go and don’t look back. Also we have to make sure our fundamentals in defence are sound so that we can be victorious to set the season right. Openers are always hard and it’s a good thing to have it at home where we have the crowd on our side.”