After surrendering to two painful defeats, the Singapore Slingers look to get back on the right track with Sunday’s gritty win against the Kaohsiung Truth in Singapore.
Losing to both Alab Pilipinas and Kaohsiung Truth in their previous outings, the Slingers were able to avenge their recent setbacks with an 84-76 win over the visiting Truth at the OCBC Arena in Singapore on Sunday.
It was the Slingers’ 11th win in 16 games.
However, their victory on Sunday was nothing short of difficult. The Truth were once again looking for a stunning upset just as they did the week before on their home floor. For the second straight time, Singapore and Kaohsiung were caught in a seesaw battle in the dying minutes.
A three-pointer by Luo Jun with 2:06 remaining gave the Truth a chance as they stared at a 73-70 deficit with lots of time remaining on the clock. Fortunately for the Slingers, their maturity and poise, which was absent in their last two losses, finally came into play.
Singapore finished the game strong on both ends of the court, holding the Truth to only six points while they exploded for 11 points in the last two minutes.
“I’m definitely happy with the win but disappointed with the performance,” lamented Slingers head coach Neo Beng Siang.
The winning coach was satisfied with their play in the first half and with how his team closed out the game, but he pointed out they could have done a much better job in the third period where they allowed the Truth to get close. Nonetheless, he was relieved that his boys came out with a lot of energy as oppose to their effort in the last couple of weeks.
”Basically our energy,” coach Neo said about what was the key difference in their win. “We kept on saying about energy even during our practices.”
If energy was the deciding factor for Singapore, then Wong Wei Long and Xavier Alexander were the team’s lighting rods as they provided the team with the much-needed boost. Wei Long top-scored with 23 points, including three triples, but it was Alexander who finished with a triple-double with 15 points, 11 rebounds, and 13 assists and 3 crucial block shots down the stretch that helped secure the win for the home team.
“We’re coming off two losses so it really feels great to get this one, just when we needed it the most,” Alexander said. “[I was] just trying to feed my teammates confidence – passing them the ball, making the defense collapse on me, kicking out to them. I have confidence in them to make shots.”
After back-to-back losses, the Slingers are finally back to their winning ways.
The Slingers next game is at home at the OCBC Arena vs the Saigon Heat this Sunday 5th March at 4:00pm.
Photo courtesy of Kenneth Chua
