Malaysia: Sunday 15th November
Singapore Slingers surrender golden opportunity to beat the Malaysia Dragons in back to back games.
The Slingers who played the Dragons for the second time in three days were unable to sustain a spirited performance going down 84-79 in Malaysia.
After the worse start to a game so far this season the Slingers found themselves behind by as many as 13 points (24-11) mid way through the 1st quarter, the Slingers were able to finish the quarter on a 7-4 run to pull within 10 points (28-18).
After some soul searching at quarter time the Slingers bounced back, out-scoring the Dragons (24-13) in the 2nd quarter to take a one point lead into the half time break (42-41).
The 3rd quarter saw the Slingers extend their lead out to as many as 8 points (56-48) before a late surge by the Dragons had them back within 1 point (63-62) at the end of the 3rd.
The 4th quarter didn’t start well for the visitors, with import Xavier Alexander being hit with his 3rd & 4th fouls late in the 3rd quarter, things went from bad to worse for the visitors when they quickly found themselves on the end of a 5-0 team foul count just 2 minutes into the 4th quarter.
Malaysia took advantage of the Slingers run of fouls and a late technical foul called against Slingers player Justin Howard ended any chance of a late come back and the game ended with the Dragons holding on to a 84-79 win on their home court.
The Slingers were left lamenting what could have been, shooting just 50% from the foul line and committing 17 turnovers, (many unforced).
The Slingers were again unable to contain Dragons American import Jerome Godfrey who had back to back 30 point games against the Slingers, Godfrey finished today’s return encounter with 30 points, 12 rebounds & 4 block shots.
For the Slingers Xavier Alexander led the stats with 26 points, 12 rebounds and 4 steals but he also finished with 5 turnovers and shot just 3-12 from the foul line. Justin Howard finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds.
The real bright spot for the Slingers was the return from injury of Slingers rookie Leon Kwek who finished the game with 18 points on 8-15 shooting and 4 rebounds in 31 minutes of play.
The Slingers who’s record now sits at 3 wins -2 losses will have little time to dwell on the loss to the Dragons as they continue their 6 straight away games stint with a game in Manila against the Pilipinas MX3 Kings on Friday 20th Nov.
