Manila, Philippines – The JobStreet.com Singapore Slingers played some of their best basketball of the season in the first 3 quarters of the game against the AirAsia Philippine Patriots on Saturday night but were unable to hold on to a 15-point lead they had established, eventually succumbing to the more physical Patriots going down 90-84. Kyle Jeffers had 25 points in the first half and went on to lead all scorers with 30 points while also grabbing 15 rebounds. Louis Graham posted a double double with 20 points and 12 rebounds. Don Dulay contributed 13 points in the loss. With this setback, the JobStreet.com Singapore Slingers remain in 5th spot on the ABL ladder with a 8 win – 11 record in the AirAsia ASEAN Basketball League.
Anthony Johnson led the Patriots with 26 points, scoring 20 in the 4th quarter. Nakiea Miller had 20 points and 11 rebounds.
“We distributed the ball well and limited their open looks, however, we weren’t able to consistently do that throughout the game,” said Coach Neo Beng Siang, Head Coach of the JobStreet.com Singapore Slingers.
The visiting JobStreet.com Singapore Slingers started strongly posting a 13-0 scoring run in the opening quarter and limiting the AirAsia Philippine Patriots to just 4 of 18 from the field. The 1st quarter ended with the Slingers on top 22-13. Kyle Jeffers had 11 points in the 1st quarter.
Going into the 2nd quarter, the Slingers continued their offensive prowess while holding the Patriots leading scorer Anthony Johnson to 6 points in the 1st half. At the break, the Slingers enjoyed a comfortable 44-31 lead. Kyle Jeffers led the visitors with 25 points at the break.
The Patriots slowly crept into the Slingers lead in the 2nd half by pressuring the Slingers guards and increasing their physical play. Anthony Johnson woke up from his slumber and willed the Patriots back into the game by attacking the Slingers’ defense. The Patriots were able to take the lead back in the 4th quarter with a barrage of three points from Ardy Larong, Nakiea Miller, and Anthony Johnson, which led to a 14-0 scoring run for the home team.
Down 12 points with 3:59 to go in the game, the Slingers showed great character fighting back to reduce the lead down to 3 points with just 35 seconds remaining. A Kyle Jeffers running hook shot rolled out and the Patriots held on for a hard fought win.
“Though we lost tonight, we take away a lot of positive things from this game. We showed tonight that when we play within our system, we are competitive with even the best teams in the league on their home court. This young team has grown throughout this season with some of the local players making great improvement and playing big minutes. We still have to learn how to focus for the full 40 minutes and to control the tempo of the game especially when we have the lead and teams get very physical with us,” mentioned Michael Johnson, General Manager of the JobStreet.com Singapore Slingers.
The JobStreet.com Singapore Slingers will now travel to Kuala Lumpur to take on the Westports Malaysia Dragons on Wednesday, May 9, at the MABA Stadium. For more information about the JobStreet.com Singapore Slingers, log onto our website, www.singaporeslingers.com. Follow us on Facebook – www.facebook.com/OfficialSingaporeSlingers, and Twitter – www.twitter.com/SGSlingers.
Box Scores:
AirAsia Philippine Patriots 90 – Johnson 26, Miller 20, Larong 9, Arellano 6, Ramos 6, Raymundo 6, Wainwright 5, Vergara 5, Fernandez 3, Laure 2, Rodriguez 2, Adriano 0.
JobStreet.com Singapore Slingers 84 – Jeffers 30, Graham 20, Dulay 13, Canta 6, Wei Long 6, Desmond 5, Pathman 4, Sheng Yu 0.
Quarter Scores: 22-13, 44-31, 62-53, 90-84
