After four quarters of endless lead changes, physical battles and mental challenges, the Singapore Slingers fell just 1 point short of advancing to the 2023 ABL Invitational Championship series in Vietnam.
Both teams had battled each other to a standstill with games 2 & 3 decided by a total of 3 points.
Game 3 the deciding game of the best of 3 semi-finals followed in the same vain as the first 2 games with both teams building double digit leads only for their opponents to fight back time and again.
The final 1 minute and 14 seconds of the game 3 decider had the crowd roaring as both teams swapped possessions. Heat import Evan Gilyard gave the Heat a three-point lead with a driving layup, the Slingers Kentrell Barkley tried to answer with with a three but it went in and out giving the ball back to Saigon. Gilyard drove to try and give Saigon a 5 point lead but his missed contested layup attempt was rebounded by Singapore. The Slingers attempted to tie up the game on a Larry Liew 3 point shot but his miss was rebounded by CJ Gettys and his put back cut the Heat lead to a single point.
The final 7 seconds of the game was frantic with a missed shot by Gilyard with 7 seconds remaining giving the Slingers one last chance to win the game and the series but it was’nt to be as the Slingers could’nt get off a good shot to snatch the victory.
After a 2 point loss in OT in Game 2 the Slingers came out firing at the start of the deciding game 3, building a 10 point lead during the 1st quarter. The Heat would then make a run of there own late in the 2nd quarter taking a 6 point lead into half time. Saigon would again push their lead to double digits in the 3rd quarter before a gutsy Slingers team battling a parochial Heat home crowd for a third straight game roared there way back into the lead late in the final period.
Slingers centre Gettys put up another solid performance with 25 points and 12 rebounds, coming off the back of his 31 pts and 20 reb performance the night before. Kentrell Barkley finished with 23 points and 13 rebounds for yet another double-double game.
Veteran Slingers import Xavier Alexander contributed 19 points, eight rebounds and five assists while Larry Liew, who’s been a mainstay in the starting five during the playoffs, produced nine points, all of which, coming from downtown. Delvin Goh also finished with nine points.
In the end the Slingers couldn’t overcome some of their own mental lapses on both offense and defense. Add to that a one sided 47-20 Free Throw disparity against the visitors in games 2 and 3 and it was just to much to overcome.
With the game 3 loss, the Singapore Slingers finish their 2023 ABL Invitational campaign but not in vain.
After all the uncertainties whether the league would push through or not after the covid shut down, the Singapore Slingers were the first ones to resume training and helped lay out the roadmap to the resumption of the ABL.
