By Les Tan/Red Hoops in Jakarta
Marcus Ng exploded for nine of his 12 points in the fourth quarter to power the Slingers to an improbable victory. (Photo 1 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
BritAma Arena, Saturday, November 14, 2009 – The Singapore Slingers pulled out an improbable victory when they beat Satria Muda BritAma 61-59 in Round 6 of the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL).
Down 10 points at 49-59 with 3:29 left on the clock in the fourth, the Slingers put together a heart-stopping 12-0 run on the back of some outstanding play by Marcus Ng and Hong Wei Jian who between them, drained 10 points to deliver a crushing blow to the Indonesian club.
Leading 59-58 with 39 seconds left, Satria Muda’s Alexander Hartman left the door for the Slingers when he missed two free throws.
Wei Jian showed nerves of steel in front of a hostile crowd when he hit the go-ahead two-point basket to bring the Slingers their first-ever lead in the game at 60-59 with 24 seconds left on the clock. The Slinger bench erupted in dispute, claiming a three, because one of the referees had signalled for a three-pointer but he was overruled by his other two colleagues.
Satria Muda’s new import Nakiea Miller had two opportunities to win the game for his team in the dying seconds but could not deliver and the Slinger bench celebrated a most unexpected victory while the vociferous Indonesian went silent at the buzzer.
Marcus Ng was the unlikely hero for the Slingers after foul trouble in the first quarter dropped him to the bench. He came alive only in the fourth quarter where he delivered nine of his 12 points.
“I picked up those early fouls in the first quarter which slowed me down a bit. It took me to the last quarter to get into the game and I felt I had to do something to help the team out. I was glad that I could get us over the line,” said Marcus.
A one-on-one with head coach Frank Arsego on the sidelines late in the second quarter also gave Marcus something to think about.
“Sometimes, in these sorts of situation, you have to respond. You have to be the player that everyone believes that you are. To be honest, I didn’t think Marcus was close in the first half. He was all over the place. I don’t know where he was but he just couldn’t get going. He needed some positive encouragement. You have to somehow wake him up.
The beautiful thing was, once we made that little change in that fourth quarter about how we wanted to play, it opened up the game for him personally. And then he really stepped up. He was the match winner. Wei Jian put the icing on the cake but he gave us the opportunity to have a chance at the win. His drives to the basket and that three-point shot – they were the things that gave us a chance,” added Arsego.
“He told me to get back into the game. Make sure I was strong with the ball and be aggressive and try and get some open looks and get to the basket,” said Marcus, whose drives to the basket unhinged Satria Muda.
Marcus started the comeback when he sank a three-pointer off a Michael LeBlanc assist for the Slingers to trail by seven at 53-59 with 3:11 left. Marcus then delivered another two points, reducing the deficit to four at 55-59, with 1:34 left.
Hong Wei Jian then took up the scoring with a three-pointer to bring the Slingers to within one at 58-59 before Hartman melted down with his two free throw misses.
The Slinger defensive intensity kept Satria Muda from scoring for the last 3:29 of the fourth to help pull out their league-leading fifth victory.
“Sometimes your group has got it in them. They did something similar in Brunei where we had to come from behind and forged ahead. I think we just found a way as a group to produce points which we had problems with earlier in the game. We found ways to get good, good looks,” said Arsego.
“I’m very proud of the boys because what we threw in there wasn’t something that we were working on for weeks and weeks but it was an adjustment on the run. They were very focused. I think that’s a real key thing if you want to win a game like that,” said Arsego.
The Slingers improve to a 5-1 win-loss record and remain top of the league. Satria Muda fell to 3-3 for third place. The top four in the six-team league qualify for the playoffs early next year.
Quarter by Quarter Scores
Satria Muda vs Slingers
1st Q: 19-14
2nd Q: 11-11
3rd Q: 15-18
4th Q: 14-18
Satria Muda BritAma Game Box Score
| # | Name | PTS | FG | 3PT | FT | OR | DR | TR | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | MIN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | *Rensy Morales Bajar | 12 | 3/8 | 2/3 | 4/6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 35:42 |
| 5 | Faisal Achmad Julius | 9 | 3/6 | 2/4 | 1/4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 26:24 |
| 6 | Wendha Wijaya | 0 | 0/2 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1:39 |
| 7 | Amin Prihantono | 0 | 0/1 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6:49 |
| 8 | *Alexander Gordon Hartman | 13 | 6/15 | 1/4 | 0/4 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 38:36 |
| 9 | *Youbel Sondakh | 2 | 1/4 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 16:02 |
| 11 | Galank Gunawan | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3:24 |
| 12 | Bonanza Siregar | DNP | ||||||||||||
| 13 | Rony Gunawan | 2 | 1/1 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 9:23 |
| 14 | Welyanson Situmorang | 2 | 1/4 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 15:12 |
| 15 | *Christian Ronald Sitepu | 6 | 3/8 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 24:11 |
| 43 | *Nakiea Miller | 13 | 3/8 | 1/4 | 6/8 | 2 | 11 | 13 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 22:38 |
| 59 | 21/57 | 6/17 | 11/22 | 9 | 28 | 37 | 11 | 8 | 6 | 15 | 21 | 200 |
Singapore Slingers Game Box Score
| # | Name | PTS | FG | 3PT | FT | OR | DR | TR | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | MIN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | *Desmond Oh | 2 | 1/2 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 10:02 |
| 10 | Hong Wei Jian | 8 | 3/5 | 1/1 | 1/4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 18:52 |
| 11 | Michael Wong | 3 | 1/5 | 1/5 | 0/0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 16:48 |
| 12 | Prasad Sadasivan | DNP | ||||||||||||
| 13 | Steven Khoo | 2 | 1/1 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 11:17 |
| 15 | Pathman Matialakan | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 15:39 |
| 19 | *Al Vergara | 6 | 2/8 | 0/3 | 2/3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 30:11 |
| 21 | *Marcus Ng | 12 | 5/13 | 1/2 | 1/1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 19:22 |
| 31 | *Kyle Jeffers | 14 | 6/18 | 0/1 | 2/5 | 4 | 10 | 14 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 40:00 |
| 35 | *Michael LeBlanc | 14 | 4/16 | 0/2 | 6/8 | 1 | 9 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 37:49 |
| 61 | 23/68 | 3/15 | 12/21 | 13 | 29 | 42 | 9 | 9 | 2 | 14 | 21 | 200 |
Hong Wei Jian showed nerves of steel to drain five points in the final minutes to help ice the Slinger victory. (Photo 2 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Al Vergara came back to lead from point but suffered a bad reaction in the final quarter and had to sit out. (Photo 3 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Michael LeBlanc goes for two. He shot only 4 of 16 (25%) from the field but made a vital assist to Marcus Ng to trigger the 11-0 run in the fourth. LeBlanc hit a team-high 14 points. (Photo 4 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Kyle Jeffers sinks a hook shot. Jeffers shot only 6 of 18 (33) from the field in the face of aggressive Satria Muda defending but still managed to hit a team-high 14 points. (Photo 5 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Michael LeBlanc (left) and Jeffers contest the rebound with Nakiea Miller (Satria Muda, #43). (Photo 6 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
The Slingers celebrate the heart-stopping victory. (Photo 7 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
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Deana will be happy to see his lil’ boy all smiles
I’ll be going to the airport tomorrow to welcome the guys back again XD Time to get some popeye chicken too. Going back to topic, it was a great win and it really showed the character of the team. Frank Arsego’s a great man-management coach. They way he handled Marcus being off form early on and the final 3 minutes was impressive. We came out all guns blazing after that time out and the rest was history.
Yes I am very happy to see such great photos of all HER lil boys & that last picture was absolutely the best smile captured on a camera published ever of my son!! Fantastic photos as usual Les!!!Slingers Rock!!
Gordan, will you give my son a big hug for me?! lol… Focused Tough Defense & Amazing Offensive plays by all my Slinger boys!!
Peace out! Slingermom…
Marcus ‘Manu’ Ng and Flyboy!!!!! What an amazing comeback victory!
@Gordon, help me tell Wei Jian that “I just knew that there was something special about the Flyboy!”
Nail biter win for Slingers.. Amazing come back..;p
I couldn’t catch him today at the airport. KJ, Marcus and Al just flew out of the belt and left the airport. I could only catch Wei Jian and Prasad. Leblanc came out much later and was surprised ‘man, its like a race or something, they left without me’ He told me rooms with KJ
@deanna-CJ giles was sucked by smart gilas-the philippines national basketball team. dysfunctional problem. Hel be replaced by jamal sampson a 6’11 NBA player, although they are finding a solid 7footer for replacement.
Both Sampson and Giles are ex-Lakers. Sampson is a tremendous shot-blocker but perhaps he won’t be as quick and fast as Giles.
@slingerrocks-k, tnx .
@Deana http://www.singaporeslingers.com See the highlights of the last few seconds of the game on the right side of the home page. KJ Interview also included XD
Wei Jian’s second clutch shot sure looks like a three, but they gave him a two.
the philippine won their 1st game against japan in the fiba u-16 basketball tourney in malaysia. the score is 64-59.the filinos is led by keiffer ravena with 25pts.this shooting guard and point guard from rp was offerd to play college hoops at duke but he turned it down and instead play college hoops at ateneo.Singapore was beaten by korea 103-37 i think.
The Philippine under 16 national basketball team is without their number 1 player 14 yr old 6’5 guard ray rAY parks jr, who can play all 5 positions. he was not excused by his high school in u.s.
cj giles is signed by al riyadi lebanese team.he will be naturalized.watch out for fil german christian stannhanberger,6’8 small forward who average 27pts in germany.hes a member of german youth. he will play for philippines senior national team.hes a freshman in nebraska.