LeBlanc leads Slingers in 95-89 win over Barracudas to secure second place in ABL

By Goh De No in Brunei

Bandar Sri Begawan, Wednesday, January 20, 2010 – The Singapore Slingers came out firing on all cylinders to beat the Brunei Barracudas 95-89 ensuring that they will at least finish in second place in the ASEAN Basketball League. While this leaves the Barracudas tied with the KL Dragons at fourth place and their playoff fate still hanging in balance.

Both teams were only tied at tip-off as the Slingers controlled the entire ball-game and led from the beginning to finish.

Singaporean Hong Wei Jian came up with the ball after tip-off for a fast-break lay in, which led to a 10-0 run for the Slingers who were a sizzling 60.5% from the field and almost 50% from downtown in the first half.

Michael LeBlanc who had a huge game the previous time the Slingers were in Brunei, came up big yet again with a team high 26 points accompanying his six boards and was the only Slinger who played the full game.

The Slingers also had strong contributions from local boys Desmond Oh and Hong Wei Jian who both had double figures while pestering the Barracudas backcourt on defence.

Slingers coach Frank Arsego was proud of the Singaporeans believing that the local boys finally contributed to what was missed in the game against the KL Dragons 3 days ago.

"Tonight the local boys really took care of business along with Jeffers and LeBlanc," Arsego said.

"Michael (LeBlanc) is the key part of the development of the Slingers and he has a lot of confidence here. Kyle and him are always ready to take responsibility in the game," he added.

The Australian coach was beaming with pride of his Singapore-based team as he praised his players for displaying a good season's work.

"The boys are committed to play a good team game and we're desperate to be as successful as we can. We knew they needed to make the playoffs, and we knew we need to finish second," he stated.

The Slingers' floor general controlled the offense most of the game by creating space and setting up for each other. Slingers Filipino-import, Al Vergara, in particular, again contributed at the most crucial times to finish the game with 15 points and led everyone with six assists.

“We wanted to learn how to put things in the right place and be successful on the road,” Arsego shared, “I believe that to win a championship, a team has to be able to come up with wins on the road and the key thing is to play good defense on the road and tonight we made them work extremely hard.”

It was a totally different story for the Barracudas who never rose to be a threat to the Slingers in this game. They struggled from the field (20% field goals) and looked flat-footed in the first half playing uninspired basketball.

The only reason the Slingers were leading by only 14 at the half-time mark was because the Barracudas made 27 of their 32 free throws.

In the fourth quarter, the Singapore side extended the lead to as much as 20 and the Barracudas only managed to come as close as nine points with under three minutes to go but were again shut down by the Slingers’ formidable defence.

Barracudas Filipino point guard Leo Avenido led all scorers with 30 points, shooting 100% from the charity stripe before fouling out at the last minute.

Michael Pilgrim and captain Francis ´Kiko' Adriano both had sub-par nights as Pilgrim was hit with foul-trouble yet again.

Coach Bong Ramos believed that being down 10-0 in the first quarter really killed their momentum.

"You can see, they really tried their best so I cannot ask for more, they are still pushing hard but the Slingers had too big a cushion and controlled the game," said the Filipino coach.

"I take full responsibility for the loss, we had a chance to go to the final four today but we didn't make it. Now we have one last chance against the Patriots," said an emotional Ramos who couldn't get the win on his birthday.

Ramos added: “It is a privilege to coach the Barracudas. I thank the Lord really, we are still alive and kicking even though other teams expect us to be eliminated right away. Our players try their best and we are not out yet.”

Ramos made known that they are not going to rely on Satria Muda to beat the KL Dragons to advance, he shared: “We are focused on the game for Sunday, we have to push one more time.”

When asked about what could possibly be the last home game of the season, Ramos thanked the home fans for their tremendous support.

“They support us even when we were losing, they never left. I want to say thank you to the Bruneians, who have supported us and I take responsibility for the loss,” Ramos concluded.

In the battle for the final playoff spot, the KL Dragons will visit Satria Muda on Saturday where a win will put pressure on the Barracudas, who will take on the Patriots who has never lost at home on Sunday.

For the Slingers, a second-place finish ensures home-court advantage in the three-game semi-finals against Satria Muda BritAma.

The Slingers are due to play the Thailand Tigers this weekend and if they should win the game and the Philippine Patriots fall against the visiting Barracudas, the Slingers will secure top spot in the table because of a superior head-to-head record against the Patriots.

For the league table, fixtures and results of other games, go to the ABL FIXTURES page.

Brunei Barracudas Game Box Score

Singapore Slingers Game Box Score