Story by Koh Yizhe/Red Sports. Photos by Lim Yong Teck and Matthew Lau/Red Sports
Dior Lowhorn (#33) of the Singapore Slingers dunks against HiTech Bangkok City. Lowhorn led the Slingers with a game-high 35 points. (Photo 1 © Lim Yong Teck/Red Sports)
OCBC Arena, Sunday, August 31, 2014 – The Singapore Slingers put Bangkok City’s undefeated ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) record to the sword as they claimed victory 78-75 in overtime.
Bangkok City came into the match boasting a perfect 7-0 win-loss record and they looked like they would maintain it as they led 66-63 with less than 10 seconds to go. However, Dior Lowhorn proved to be the hero for the Slingers as his clutch three pointer tied the game before Al Vergara scored six points in overtime to inflict Bangkok City’s first defeat of the year.
American Lowhorn poured in a season-high 35 points and pulled down eight rebounds. Vergara had a near double-double of 11 points and nine assists while Wong Wei Long added 15 points. Wutipong Dasom and Christien Charles scored 20 points each in the losing effort.
Victory came at a cost, however, as veteran Kyle Jeffers went down injured in the third quarter and had to leave the arena on a stretcher.
“These are probably same of the best local players I’ve played with and they know how to give me the ball at the right spots so I can score,” commented Lowhorn on his monstrous performance. “When I got the ball at the end, I just threw it up and it went in! I’m glad played harder even though Kyle went down and managed to weather the storm of Thailand.”
The Slingers started the match horribly and found themselves 0-9 down after four minutes. Poor shooting and an overall lack of confidence from the team showed as Dasom and Charles ran riot in the quarter. Bangkok City led 16-7 at the first interval.
It looked like it would be a blowout but the Slingers responded in emphatic fashion. Wei Long and Lowhorn, who were scoreless in the first period, finally got their offense going. They led a 7-0 run with Wei Long scoring back-to-back layups on the break to cut the lead before they took the lead at 19-18 with 5 minutes 50 seconds remaining in the quarter.
The pair scored 24 of the team’s 27 points in the second quarter as the Slingers held a 34-25 lead at the half.
While the Slingers looked to be cruising at this point, disaster stuck when Jeffers went down clutching his ankle early in the third quarter. He played no further part in the match and was unable to leave the court on his own.
His absence left the Slingers without a strong inside presence and they struggled to collect rebounds at both ends of the court. That allowed Bangkok City to slowly cut the Slingers’ lead, narrowing it to just three points 48-51 heading into the final period.
The Slingers’ lead in the fourth quarter lasted less than a minute as Bangkok City took the game to the host. They took the lead at 52-51 before extending it to as many as seven points. However, the Slingers stepped up their defensive intensity, forcing a couple of turnovers to ensure the score line was kept close.
Still, the Slingers failed to take the lead again and were staring at defeat after Wei Long wasted a chance to launch a three despite having plenty of space with less than a minute remaining. However, Lowhorn stepped up, scoring the all-important trey from the corner to send the game into overtime.
In overtime, Vergara took over. Both teams traded the lead, but it was the veteran Filipino guard who scored six points and made an all-important steal midway through the period to give the Slingers the lead. Bangkok City centre Steven Thomas made a rare three pointer to make things interesting, but the Slingers would ice the game from the free throw line.
“We started off badly and played scared at the start but towards the end everybody wanted the win,” said Slingers head coach Neo Beng Siang. “The boys fought all the way through and never gave up even when Kyle was out. They wanted to win the game for him.”
“It’s still early in the season to say anything but Bangkok City are extremely comfortable at home. They still have a couple of tough road games back-to-back so we’ll see what happens then,” added Neo.
The Singapore Slingers will fly to Indonesia to face the Indonesia Warriors on Wednesday.
Scoring by Quarter
Singapore Slingers vs Bangkok City
1st Quarter: 7–16
2nd Quarter: 27–9 (34–25)
3rd Quarter: 17–23 (51–48)
4th Quarter: 15–18 (66–66)
OT: 12-9 (78-75)
Scorers
Singapore Slingers: Lowhorn – 35, Wei Long – 16, Vergara – 11, Han Bin – 6, Jeffers – 4, Wu – 4, Goh – 2.
Bangkok City: Dasom – 20, Charles – 20, Canada – 15, Thomas – 14, Jaisanuk – 6.
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