HO CHI MINH CITY – The Singapore Slingers rallied past the scorching Saigon Heat in front of the entire CIS Arena last night to get their fifth straight victory.
The imports dictated the tempo in the opening frame with Jerran Young leading the charge for the visiting team with eight points. Meanwhile, Xavier Alexander’s fifth point off a layup against Kyle Barone earned him the third spot in the ASEAN Basketball League’s All-Time Scoring List, but that didn’t stop him from further asserting his dominance over the home squad as he tallied 13 more points across his name.
The second quarter saw the Heat inching closer to the Slingers as Murphy Burnatowski drained three treys to get them to within five entering the halftime, 42-47.
But the Slingers stood their ground and emerged from the dugout a whole different team led by Young’s 14-point performance in the third quarter alone. He was on fire from beyond the arc with 4 three-pointers made out of only six attempts. Saigon was limited to only just nine points heading into the final frame. The Slingers were in control up until the last two minutes of the ballgame and even held a 10-point advantage.
But the Heat had other plans. Tanh Sang Dinh scored 4 of his 7 markers in the most crucial moment of the game, bringing his team within striking distance as they cut the deficit to two, 75-77. Xavier Alexander was fouled and ultimately split his charities in the dying minutes, claiming the Slingers’ fifth consecutive win.
The Singapore Slingers will look to stretch their win streak to six as they go against the 3-4 Hong Kong Eastern at the OCBC Arena on December 21.
SCORES:
Saigon Heat – Burnatowski (21), Dierker (16), Barone (11), Hamilton (11), Tran (9), Dinh (7)
Singapore Slingers – Young (27), Alexander (18), Goh (15), Fields (11), Oh (3), Lim (2), Ng (2)
