The Singapore Slingers won the Straits Cup trophy anew as they dominated the Westports Malaysia Dragons, 81-44, Sunday night at the OCBC Arena for a two-game sweep.
Led by John Fields monster numbers of 28 points and 16 rebounds the Slinger dominated from late in the first quarter up to the final buzzer as they led by as much as 39 points in the game.
Xavier Alexander flirted with another triple-double with 21 points, nine rebounds, and nine assists and Jerran Young also scored 21 points, adding six rebounds, two steals, and two blocks.
Once again it was the defense of the Slingers that was the key to the ball game as they held the Dragons to a miserable 22% shooting from the field. The struggles of Westports Malaysia were exemplified by their three imports. Winston Shepard had the best performance with 25 points although it took him 28 field goal attempts to get there.
Nnanna Egwu, who led the Dragons with 26 points last Friday, was limited to only eight markers as he shot 4 of 17 from the field. Chris Eversley had one of the worst game of his ABL career with only six points on 3 of 14 shooting.
The locals of Westports Malaysia did not fare any better as Chin Cheng, Yek Liang Chuan, Benjamin Sim, Tan Wei Long, and Chin Zhi Shin shot a combined 1 of 20 from the field.
The Dragons did not score more than 13 points in a quarter and were limited to only nine in the third.
The Slingers stay put at the third spot with their 12-7 win-loss tally, right behind the Formosa Dreamers at 13-6.
“We’re taking it one game at a time but the Philippines is the target,” said Fields. “The game plan was to try and put them away early. Our defense is great and they don’t have a lot of shooters so we just wanted Shepard to put up as many shots as he can behind the screen.”
