By Koh Yizhe/Red Sports
Kyle Jeffers tries in vain to stop Matthew Rogers (Beermen #31) from scoring while Rashad Jones-Jennings looks on. Fatigue from traveling limited the home team to 22% shooting, resulting in a 55-66 loss to the San Miguel Beermen. (Photo 1 © Tan Jon Han/Red Sports)
Singapore Indoor Stadium, Sunday, February 24, 2013 – The Singapore Slingers were outplayed at home by the San Miguel Beermen as they went down 55-66 in the ASEAN Basketball League.
The Slingers were hoping to build on last week’s victory over the Saigon Heat and a win on the road against the same opponents two days ago, but instead, their shooting let them down as they made just 22% of their shots from the field – a season-low. They now have a 4-4 win-loss record.
Beermen point guard Chris Banchero was too much to handle for the Slingers’ guards as his agility allowed him to net a team-high 16 points, five assists and four steals. Pauliasi Taulava added a double-double of 10 points and 13 rebounds while Mathew Rogers, serving as a replacement for the injured Brian Williams, had eight points and five blocks.
Kyle Jeffers scored a game-high 20 points and pulled down 12 rebounds but the Slingers’ other import Rashad Jones-Jennings managed just eight points though he did his job in rebounding, pulling down 16. Wong Wei Long had a quiet game as well, adding just eight points.
“Our shooting percentage was bad,” admitted Slingers head coach Neo Beng Siang.
“We really struggled on our shots today and shot 22%. We can’t accept that. I felt the players were a bit scared or maybe it was fatigue as we just flew in less than 24 hours ago. We need to be more prepared for our next game and come out really strong and mentally confident.”
Things looked optimistic in the opening minutes when Mitchell Folkoff nailed a three-pointer to spark a run that gave the home side a 7-2 lead. It went downhill from there, however, as the visitors would rally and snatch the lead.
Banchero and Taulava both scored six points each in the first quarter as the Beermen made the Slingers pay for the turnovers they made. By the end of the first 10 minutes, the visitors already amassed a double-digit, 22-12 lead.
Just three field goals were made by the Slingers in the opening period and it did not improve by much in the second quarter as they made just five more. Their shots were simply unable to fall as they struggled to find a way past the Beermen’s defence.
In contrast, their opponents hit 50% of their shots and made double the number of field goals the Slingers did. They led 38-28 at half-time.
The Slingers attempted a rally at the start of the third quarter as they cut the deficit down to just six points at 36-42 with a little under six minutes left to play in the period. Jeffers scored seven of his 20 points in this period while Wei Long did his bit with five points.
Things got physical when Desmond Oh was floored by Gabriel Freeman as the two players tussled for position on a Beermen attack. The American import stood over and stared down at the Singaporean guard for a moment before it looked like he attacked the fallen Slinger, shoving his head to the ground.
Both players were separated, but surprisingly, the referee only gave personal fouls to both players.
That seemed to shake the Slingers up a little as their turnovers proved costly once again with Banchero netting seven points in the quarter to make sure the Beermen snuffed out any hope of a comeback. They extended their lead to 55-42 heading into the final quarter.
With the wind in their sails, the Beermen cruised in the final quarter. Victory was never in doubt as they accumulated a 16-point lead at 47-63 when Freeman nailed a three-pointer with two minutes and 42 seconds remaining.
Wei Long made the score more respectable by hitting a trey of his own with 10 seconds remaining but it was too little too late as the Beermen won 66-55.
The Beermen limited the Slingers to just three three-pointers throughout the game and head coach Leovino Austria felt that was key to the victory.
“We were fortunate because Singapore just came back from a game on Friday,” said the Filipino coach.
“I have seen them play this season and they were playing very quickly, but today, we managed to contain their shooters. As long as their shooters could not connect from the perimeter, we were okay. I was not too worried about their bigs.”
American import Jones-Jennings also felt that there was something different about the way the Slingers were playing.
“We got to make sure that we do not let the other team dictate what we do,” declared Jones-Jennings.
“It was a totally different team out there tonight. I’m not talking about our opponents, I’m talking about us. A totally different team! We need to make them adjust to us and not the other way around. We need to stick to our own identity.”
“I think we went away from what was working today. There is nothing magically we need to do. We just need to come out and play our game.”
The Slingers will travel to Kuala Lumpur on March 10th to face the Malaysia Dragons in their next game.
Score by Quarters
Slingers vs Heat
1st Q: 12-22
2nd Q: 16-16 (28-38)
3rd Q: 14-17 (42-55)
4th Q: 13-11 (55-66)
Slingers: Jeffers — 20 pts, Jones-Jennings — 8 pts, Wei Long — 8 pts, Cabatu — 8 pts, Folkoff — 5 pts, Oh — 4 pts, Dulay — 2 pts.
Beermen: Banchero — 16 pts, Taulava — 10 pts, Rogers — 8 pts, Menk — 8 pts, Freeman — 8 pts, Avenido — 7 pts, Cawaling — 5 pts, Rizada — 4 pts.
2013 Slingers’ ABL fixture schedule and results
More photos next page
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