The Singapore Slingers have won their last two games and now it is time to prove that they’ve put their early-season struggles behind them as they take on the league-leading Mono Vampire Basketball Club.
At 7-3, the Thailand based team has been the most consistent squad at home as they have yet to be defeated in five games. However, they’ve had their problems on the road at 2-3 so the Slingers need to take full advantage of this game being played at the OCBC Arena.
The two teams are coming off very different results in their past games as Singapore picked up a big win on the road against the Macau Black Bears while Mono Vampire fell painfully short against the Taipei Fubon Braves with a one-point loss.
The Slingers finally overcame their fourth-quarter struggles against the Black Bears as they now only employed their spectacular defense but got going on the offensive side as well. Singapore blanked Macau in the final four minutes of the game to come up with the win as Xavier Alexander led the charge with 26 points, six rebounds, and nine assists. Marcus Elliott also had a spectacular performance with 26 points, seven rebounds and seven assists with Anthony McClain and Leon Kwek combining or 32 markers.
Delvin Goh was the only starter who did not score in double-digits but he had an important put-back play in the dying minutes of the game to help secure the victory.
The Slingers will have to be wary of the depth of Mono Vampire as they have a long list of locals who could back up their World Imports, the best of which is Michael Singletary who is averaging 21.9 points and 10.0 rebounds per game. Preston Knowles is due for a bounce-back performance after not scoring in double-digits and missing the game-winner against the Braves while Michael Morrison has posted double-doubles in his two games with the franchise.
The key locals for Mono Vampire are Moses Morgan and Tyler Lamb who are both skilled wingmen. They can attack inside, shoot threes, and set up their teammates so the team defense of the Slingers needs to be on point throughout the game. The two combined for 39 points against the Braves with seven triples between them so doubling off these two to help out against the imports of Mono Vampire will be problematic.
With Singapore playing so much better in their past two games, they now look ready to take on Mono Vampire and they will have a loud Sunday crowd behind them to help them secure an upset win against the ABL’s current number 1 team.
