By Jericho Ilagan | SingaporeSlingers.com
Mahaka Square, Jakarta, Indonesia – The Indonesia Warriors, who have locked up the #2 seed in the 2013 ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) Playoffs earlier in the week, claimed another victory by demolishing the JobStreet.com Singapore Slingers, 64-39. The scoring output of the visiting Slingers squad was the lowest point total in the short history of the league.
Stanley Pringle who is on his 5th game back after suffering a meniscus injury prior to the start of the season led all scorers with 16 points while adding 8 rebounds and 2 steals. John Smith added 13 points on 5 of 6 shooting for the Warriors, who now have a 15-6 win-loss slate.
Phillip Morrison was the lone Slinger in double figures as he scored 10 points.
Slingers’ Philip Morrison
With the loss, the JobStreet.com Singapore Slingers are 5th in the ABL standings with a 7-14 record.
It was a usual slow start for the JobStreet.com Singapore Slingers as the reigning ABL champions Indonesia Warriors jumped off to a 12-2 start early in the opening quarter. Back to back baskets from Rashaad Singleton cut the Warriors’ lead down to 6. It looked like the Slingers’ Rashad & Rashaad combination was going to dominate the paint when the Warriors’ Steven Thomas picked up his 2nd personal foul. However, the Slingers failed to capitalize as the Warriors’ held on to an 18-12 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Indonesia Warriors Stanley Pringle
The 2nd quarter was not much different as the Slingers’ committed 8 turnovers in the quarter. The Warriors’ unleashed an 8-2 run that saw their lead balloon to 12 points halfway thru the 2nd period. Rashad Jones-Jennings, who finished with 7 points and grabbed 18 rebounds, made the only field goal in the quarter. At the end of the first half, the Warriors led, 30-14.
“We pleaded with the players to run the offense and work together, and in the few possessions that we did run the offense, we scored. However, everyone played for their individual stats tonight instead of for the good of the team,” said a very disappointed Neo Beng Siang, Head Coach of the JobStreet.com Singapore Slingers.
Upon the start of the third quarter, the Slingers battled the Warriors toe-to-toe as they traded baskets. Wong Wei Long hit on consecutive three-pointers but that wasn’t enough as a balanced Warriors offensive attack was too much to handle for the Slingers. 4 players scored in double figures for the Warriors – Pringle, Smith, Jerick Cañada with 10 points, and Chris Daniels, also with 10 points. The Slingers’ were also unable to contain the Warriors’ on the offensive end as they were able to grab 6 offensive rebounds in the quarter. The Warriors held a comfortable 17-point lead, 49-32, over the Slingers at the end of the 3rd quarter.
The Slingers seem to have thrown in the towel as they were unable to convert on a field goal attempt until Cabatu hit on a jumpshot off a baseline inbound. Cabatu finished with 6 points. By then, the Warriors lead was already up to 25 points courtesy of an 8-0 run that started with seldom-used De Ruitjer and capped by a fastbreak lay-up by Cañada.
Michael Johnson, General Manager of the JobStreet.com Singapore Slingers was quoted: “We have had a few chances to grab the fourth and final playoff spot over the last few weeks and every time we have been faced with a big game, we have come up short. Tonight was the sort of performance that the team should be embarrassed about, not that we lost or even set a league low in scoring but that we played very selfishly for the majority of the game and then gave up in the 4th quarter.”
The JobStreet.com Singapore Slingers will play their final regular season game on Tuesday, May 14, against the Indonesia Warriors at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. Tip Off is scheduled at 8PM. Tickets are available through Sistic.
Box Scores:
Indonesia Warriors 64 – Pringle 16, Cañada 10, Smith 10, Daniels 10, Sitepu 6, Thomas 4, Prihantono 3, De Ruitjer 2, Wuysang 0, Indrajaya 0
JobStreet.com Singapore Slingers 39 – Morrison 10, Wei Long 8, Jones-Jennings 7, Cabatu 6, Singleton 6, Folkoff 2, Desmond 0, Beng 0, Qingde 0, Sheng Yu 0
Quarter Scores: 18-12, 30-16, 49-32, 64-39
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