In sports, they say losses only count for real when you don’t learn anything from these.
Coming from a tough loss to Mono Vampire on the road, the Singapore Slingers quickly showed they learned their lesson from the from it. The Slingers were blitzed in Thailand as the home team raced to a double-digit start and fell behind by as much as 21 points in the game. Although Singapore gamely fought back, specially in the fourth quarter where they went back to their main strength, which was their defense, it was not enough as Mono Vampire made key baskets in the end to hang on to the victory.
Playing at home against the Saigon Heat, the Slingers opened the game with a 7-0 run and led by as much as 25 points before settling for a 76-70, Sunday night at the OCBC Arena.
The win kept Singapore undefeated against Saigon in the season as they are now 3-0 against the Heat. It also enabled the Slingers to claim the third spot in the standings with their 10-7 win-loss tally, head of Saigon’s 10-8 and behind Formosa’s 10-5.
Once again, the locals spelled the difference for Singapore with Delvin Goh picking up a solid double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds while Desmond Oh had nine points and two steals. This was at the heels of the game against Mono Vampire where Oh failed to score and Goh only had four points.
Although the defense waned for the Slingers in the fourth quarter, they built a lead big enough to cruise until the end. Holding the usually fiery offense of the Heat to just five points in the second period reinforces the point that Singapore is the best defensive team in the entire league.
Jerran Young led the Slingers with 21 points and 10 rebounds while John Fields also scored a double-double with 16points and 15 rebounds. The two imports also showed their might defensively with a combined six blocks and three steals.
Xavier Alexander did not shoot well from the field at 5 of 14 but still managed to score 15 points and get seven rebounds and six assists.
The defense of the Slingers held Saigon’s three imports to 32.5% shooting from the field (13 of 40) with Trevon Hughes leading the charge for the visitors with 20 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists.
