ABL: Leo Avenido scores season-high 30 points as Slingers edge out Slammers 87-81

Story by Erwin Wong, Ethan Lou and Kenneth Tan/Red Sports. Photos by Vanessa Lim/Red Sports

Singapore Indoor Stadium, Sunday, October 31, 2010 — Leonidez Avenido equaled his ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) career-high when he poured in 30 points as the Singapore Slingers edged out the Thailand Slammers 87-81 in a close, feisty contest.

The Filipino, who scored 30 points against the Slingers last season while playing for the Brunei Barracudas, continued his early-season display of long range prowess when he drained 5 of 11 three-pointers.

“As always, it’s luck! Maybe that’s my lucky word, that’s why I’m lucky!” remarked the 31-year-old after the game. He has now made five three-pointers in each of the three home games this season, and had previously attributed his accuracy to good fortune.

Avenido came into the game leading the league in three-pointers made with 17. He needed just one to surpass his total from last season, but had three in a 93-second span in the first period to tie the game at 16, after the visitors had taken two separate seven-point leads early on.

“He definitely kept us in the game in the first half. We need him to continue to be an outstanding scorer,” said Slingers captain Kyle Jeffers, who was excellent himself with his fifth straight double-double of 18 points and 15 rebounds.

Local lad Steven Khoo brought the Slingers level after one quarter with a tip-in at the buzzer, and combined with Jeffers and Avenido for a 10-3 run to open the second period. The Slammers responded with seven unanswered points to make it 28-28, as they exploited the Slingers’ lack of transition defence.

Both teams then traded leads six times before a Jason Dixon three-point play and Piyapong Piroon trey, one of his afternoon’s four, enabled the Slammers to open up a five-point, 38-33 lead. Avenido’s 17th and 18th point on a pull-up jumper completed the first half scoring, which marked the first time this season at the Singapore Indoor Stadium that the home team had trailed at the break.

The visitors again opened a seven-point advantage when point guard Froilan Baguion rebounded Ardy Larong’s miss to score, but Jeffers and power forward Marcus Skinner, who scored 15 points and had five rebounds, led the comeback trail with seven consecutive points between them, the last two coming after excellent ball movement from Desmond Oh, Steven and Jeffers found the American centre for an easy two to tie the game at 46 apiece.

The scores remained tied after three quarters, and although the Slammers’ last lead came after Sopon Pinitpatcharalert’s third trey of the afternoon for a 61-60 advantage with 9 minutes and 31 seconds to play, they responded to every Slingers run.

Slingers’ point guard Al Vergara, who had 11 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals, broke a 70-all tie with his third three-pointer of the game, and first-year Slinger Ng Hanbin followed with a corner trey which doubled the lead.

Skinner’s breakaway layup made it 78-70 to the Slingers with less than three and a half minutes to play, but the Bangkok-based team would not go away quietly. Back to back treys from Baguion and Chris Kuete, the league’s second leading scorer coming into the game but was hugely a non-factor, made it a two-point game, but Avenido responded in kind with his fifth of the game.

Dixon’s hook shot with 55 seconds to play reduced the Slingers lead to three, but his team’s comeback was finally curtailed when Skinner rebounded Vergara’s miss to score, plus the foul.

Skinner missed the ensuing free throw, but Vergara came up with the loose ball at mid court, and the resulting play saw Skinner fouled again as he scored. This time, he completed the three-point play to give the Slingers an insurmountable 86-78 lead with only 23 seconds to play.

Dixon had 18 points and 11 rebounds to lead four Slammers players in double figures. Piroon had 16 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals, while Kuete and Pinitpatcharalert added 13 points each. They matched the Slingers with 10 three-pointers, but gave up a huge 25-9 gulf in free throw attempts.

With the win, the Slingers’ third straight at home, they improve to a 3-2 win-loss record and leap-frog over the Slammers into second place in the ABL league table. The Slammers have the same record after losing their second game in a row, but are in third place because of an inferior head-to-head record with the Slingers.

“(This win) keeps our winning streak alive at home. We have to stay strong at home, because the road games outweigh the home games by one, so every home game is crucial. Now we just have to put it together on the road,” said Jeffers.

“It was a big win tonight. Every game at home is big. But now it’s on to the next one.”

The Slingers will next play Indonesian team Satria Muda BritAma in Jakarta on Saturday, November 6th, while the Slammers will attempt to get back to their winning ways with a home game against KL Dragons a day later.

ABL Fixtures and Results

Go to next page for more stats and photos