Phillip Morrison made a free throw with 2 seconds left to help his current team the JobStreet.com Singapore Slingers beat his former team the Saigon Heat 63-62 at Tan Binh Stadium, Vietnam.
Morrison finished the game with 20 points. Rashad Jones-Jennings also played his heart out in this game with his hustle plays. Jennings was everywhere on the court as he finished with 17 points, 21 rebounds and 7 steals. Rashaad Singleton chipped in 14 points.
The Slingers struck first and took a 16-9 lead with 4:55 left in the first quarter on a pair of free throws and a pull-up jumpshot from Morrison. The Heat however, responded right away with an 8-2 run capped off by a dunk by David Palmer to get them within one point after one period.
Despite only shooting 30% in the first half, the Slingers were able to keep the game very close. The Heat went into the locker room with a 34-30 lead after back to back scores from Justin Howard to end the second quarter.
Reyes opened the third quarter with a three-point shot before the Slingers responded with 9 straight points to take a brief 39-37 lead. Momentum was on the Heat’s side as the game went into the final 10 minutes. Reyes sank a three-point shot with 1:13 left, giving the Heat a 49-43 lead after three quarters.
Everything was going the Heat’s way early in the fourth quarter as Reyes knocked down back to back baskets to stretch the Heat’s lead to 54-43 with 8:42 left.
Still in the hunt for the final playoffs spot, Morrison drove all the way to the basket for a lay-up to spark the Slingers rally. Jennings came up huge during this rally as he went for every rebound and loose ball. Jennings finished off the Slingers’ 17-0 run with a left handed hook, putting the Slingers in front 60-54 with 2:10 left.
The game was deadlocked at 62 after Howard cleaned up a miss from Reyes with 14 seconds. On the next play, Singleton was fouled and had a chance give the lead back to the Slingers. However, Singleton missed both free throws and Howard grabbed the rebound. Unfortunately, Morrison was in the passing lane to steal the ball and was fouled by Reyes as he was about to make his move to the basket with 2 seconds left. Morrison knocked down his first free throw and intentionally missed the second one as the Heat had no time outs left.
Reyes led all scoring in this game with 26 points, Howard had 14 points and Palmer added 9 points for the Heat who are now out of the playoffs picture.
With this win, the Slingers have the same record with the fourth seed Sports Rev Thailand Slammers at 7-12. The Slingers could reclaim the fourth position when they host Westports Malaysia Dragons on Sunday May 8th for the 4PM tip-off. The Heat will be on the road on Wednesday May 8th to take on the Indonesia Warriors at Mahaka Square, Indonesia, for the 8PM tip-off.
