ABL: Poor second half the key to Singapore Slingers’ 83-73 loss to Satria Muda

Story by Chan Hui Mui, Erwin Wong, Koh Yizhe/Red Sports. Photos by Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports

Singapore Indoor Stadium, Tuesday, December 14, 2010 — A second half collapse consigned the Singapore Slingers to an 83-73 defeat at the hands of Indonesian side Satria Muda BritAma in the ASEAN Basketball League.

This was the Slingers’ second straight defeat, and came on the heel of ten straight games of alternating wins and losses.

Marcus Morrison led five Satria Muda players in double figures with 24 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. Point guard Mario Wuysang had season highs of 18 points and seven rebounds, and Marlon Legaspie added 16 points, and several huge three pointers, off the bench.

Centre Antoine Broxsie had 14 points, eight rebounds and tied an ABL record with seven blocked shots, leading the rearguard action against a Slinger team which saw its eight-point lead early in the third quarter evaporate on the back of a 25-8 Satria Muda run.

Slingers coach Neo Beng Siang was upset with his charges’ second half performance, where they gave up a season-high 48 points.

“We did not defend well and we were not disciplined enough to run our offence. After one pass, we were just too eager to take the shot.”

“We shot the ball badly, and our defence was horrible today. What we lacked is that we’re not hungry. The effort was not there.”

The Slingers appeared to have recovered from a nervous early start to the game by dominating the passages of play between late in the second quarter and early in the third. Slingers rookie Ng Han Bin had an offensive board before Al Vergara nailed a three to give the Slingers a 38-34 lead, and Han Bin’s steal and lay up half a minute later extended the advantage to six.

The 40-35 half time Slinger lead was increased to eight after Vergara and Marcus Skinner scored, but it went downhill from then on for the home team.

Satria Muda players got free for open looks, easy baskets and second chance points, while at the other end, the Slingers became too predictable.

“They shot the ball well, and got some fast break points. That’s just a lack of concentration on the defensive end and not being aware of where our guards are at,” said Slingers’ centre Kyle Jeffers, who posted his 10th double-double in 11 games with 13 points and 13 rebounds, but had to battle foul trouble in the decisive second half.

“Tonight, Satria Muda stumped us with their zone, and if you don’t make a lot of shots, and don’t create too much on the interior of the zone, that’s when you become a one dimensional team. They played us that way and got a lot of stops and turned around and made big shots, and got some good looks,” added Jeffers.

Broxsie, Morrison, Legaspie and Francis Adriano all blocked shots during the third quarter run, helping the Slingers on their way to 4 of 19 shooting during the period.

The away team carried a 61-50 lead into the fourth quarter, and led by no less than seven from then on. Broxsie’s sixth block of the game led to another Satria Muda fast break which Wuysang finished, giving them their largest lead of the game at 76-61 with less than four minutes to play.

Slingers’ Leonidez Avenido, who holds several three-point shooting ABL records, was kept scoreless from beyond the arc till he made two late threes, but they did little to prevent the Slingers from slumping to a 5–6 win–loss record.

Avenido led the Slingers with 18 points, while point guard Vergara broke out of a horrid stretch – a five game spell where he shot 11 of 54 and averaged 5.4 points a game – to add 13 points, five rebounds and four assists. Leading scorer Skinner also scored 13 for the Slingers, who will be looking over their shoulder anxiously.

Satria Muda improve to 4-8, and now have the season series victory over the Slingers, which will serve as the tiebreaker should both teams end the regular season with identical records.

The Slingers are still in the fourth playoff spot, but their position looks anything but secure.

“This (losing the season series to Satria Muda 2-1) is what we didn’t want. We want to have the playoff spot all locked up and sealed before the last game,” said Jeffers.

“Now every game is important. We have to make sure to stay ahead of Satria Muda before the new year, and for us, we should be playing every game like our last. We have (to play) every team one more time, and we need to make sure that we come and perform.”

The Slingers’ patchy away form (1-4), among other things, has to improve, as they prepare to end 2010 with a weekend road game against defending champions Philippine Patriots this Saturday.

“It’s getting tougher and tougher. We need to work really hard to get us into the playoffs,” said coach Neo. “We need to get at least one away win out of the remaining three that we have. We need to buck up and stay as a team.”