Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam – The Saigon Heat had a bitter end to their home opener. Despite having an 8 point lead early in the third quarter and outrebounding the Slingers 48 to 25, the Heat fell to the Singapore Slingers in front of their home crowd at a very packed Tan Binh Stadium in Ho Chi Minh City tonight.
Slingers’ big man Donald Little inspired his team’s comeback in the third quarter by scoring 11 big points. Little finished the game as the leading scorer with 21 points and 8 rebounds to lead the Slingers in defeating the Heat 60-55. Slingers’ Filipino guard Don Dulay contributed a further 16 points.
“Little was a monster tonight,” said Slingers’ General Manager Michael Johnson about Little’s performance.
The Slingers had a tough start as they were only able to score 10 points in the first quarter and 8 points in the second quarter. To add onto their troubles, Desmond Oh, who starred in the Slingers’ last game, had to leave the game in the second quarter after a collision with the Heat’s import Julius Hodge. The Slingers’ injury woes did not stop there as Slingers’ import Louis Graham had to leave the game on a stretcher after what looked like an elbow to the face. Thankfully, Graham was able to recover and checked back into the game in the fourth quarter.
The Heat were struggling in the last quarter and only managed to make 1 field goal out of 11 attempts in the last three minutes of the game. Their shooting percentage for the game was at 29%. Julius Hodge led his team with 18 points. The Heat’s other import Jonathan Jones, had a double-double with 17 points and 15 rebounds. The Heat also added Ronald Capati to their team. Capati played 22 minutes but was not able to contribute big numbers and only managed 1 point.
Saigon Heat is still winless right now and they will try to get their first win in the AirAsia ABL Season 3 against Westports Malaysia Dragons this Saturday, Januuary 28th, at MABA Stadium in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Singapore Slingers will also be playing this weekend as they host the Bangkok Cobras at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on the 29th of January. Tip off is at 4PM at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. Tickets are available through our website, www.singaporeslingers.com and through Sistic at www.sistic.com.sg.
Box Scores:
Singapore Slingers 60 – Little 21, Dulay 16, Graham 11, Canta 3, Wei Long 3, Desmond 2, Khoo 2, Pathman 2, Sheng Yu 0
Saigon Heat 55 – Hodge 18, Jones 17, Smith 11, Oeun 4, Ly 2, Trieu 2, Capati 1
Quarter Scores: 10-15, 21-27, 40-42, 60-55
