Story by Erwin Wong/Red Hoops in Kuala Lumpur
Loh Shee Fai led the Dragons with 17 points and has now made 12 of his 15 field goals against the Slingers this season. (Photo 1 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
MABA Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Sunday, January 17, 2010 – The KL Dragons went local, and then went loco – Spanish for crazy – from three-point range, as they made 10 treys in beating the Singapore Slingers 78-71 to stay alive in the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) playoff hunt.
Loh Shee Fai kept up his hot shooting against the Slingers and led the Dragons with 17 points on six of seven shooting. Little-used forward John Ng, who scored only four points all season long, added 12 and Guganeswaran Batumalai chipped in with 11, as the local-born players contributed 48 of the team’s points.
Michael LeBlanc overcame a slow start to lead the Slingers with 19 points, and Kyle Jeffers added 17 points and 10 rebounds for his 11th double-double of the season, but the team had scant reply for their opponent’s red-hot shooting.
An 8-0 Slinger run capped by Al Vergara’s baseline jumper gave the visitors a 16-8 lead with less than four minutes to go in the first quarter, but 10 straight points by the Dragons swung the momentum firmly in their favour. John scored five points and Shee Fai added a trey to the delight of the capacity 2000-strong crowd in the MABA Stadium, which was packed to the brim and had to turn more supporters away.
The home fans had more to cheer for in this final home game for the Dragons. The team led 24-18 after the first period and shot above 50% from the field in the second, as they nearly tripled that first quarter advantage after John’s dribble and lay up past a static Pathman Matialakan gave the Dragons a 17-point, 42-25 lead.
John was doing it at the other end of the floor as well, keeping LeBlanc, the Slingers’ leading scorer at 18.5 points a game, in check with three points on only two shots at the half, which the Dragons led 44-31.
Chris Kuete, who is also leading the Dragons in scoring with 18.5 points a game, was having as ineffectual a game as LeBlanc at that stage, missing all six of his shots. Both finally came to life in the third quarter, but the difference was that the Cameroonian had help from his teammates.
LeBlanc had six of the Slingers’ first nine third-quarter points, but Kuete scored nine straight for the Dragons, who kept up their high shooting percentage from the field. The lively Guga, who had a massive game with 11 points, five rebounds, eight assists and four steals, became the sixth Dragon to make his mark from downtown, and John then capped the 15-9 run with another long-range dagger to extend their lead to 19, the largest of the game.
The Dragons finished the third period with nine three pointers on 18 attempts, and on pace to threaten the ABL single-game record of 14 three-pointers. They led 66-49 after half an hour, but cooled off considerably in the final quarter as the Slingers fought to make a game of it.
They impressively restricted the Dragons to a measly one field goal in the final period, and closed to within 11 after Vergara found Marcus with one of his season-high tying eight assists to make it 67-56, but Shee Fai scored that field goal – appropriately a three-pointer – when he banked in one from beyond the arc as the shot clock expired.
That dagger shot capped another strong shooting performance against the Slingers for the 21-year old who had just celebrated his birthday yesterday, and he has now made 12 of 15 shots against the Singapore team in three games.
The Slingers finally got it down to single-digits with 2:40 to play on LeBlanc’s lay up which reduced the deficit to nine, but the Dragons survived several empty possessions and nervy turnovers by running the clock out and making their free throws. They converted nine of 12 from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter to make up for their dismal output from the field, and saw the game out to the delight of the home crowd.
The Slingers, who have already clinched a playoff spot, fell to 8-5 in the win-loss column. A win would have confirmed at least second position in the league standings, and home-court advantage in the semi-finals, but they will now have to win one of their two remaining games to be assured of that.
The Dragons, meanwhile, improve to 6-8, although another win by the Brunei Barracudas, who have two games to play, would eliminate them from playoff contention.
Singapore Slingers Game Box Score
| # | Name | PTS | FG | 3PT | FT | OR | DR | TR | AST | STL | BS | TO | PF | MIN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 71 | 30/64 | 2/13 | 9/14 | 6 | 24 | 30 | 10 | 7 | 1 | 9 | 17 | 200 | |
| 2 | Desmond Oh | 0 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2:35 |
| 5 | Wong Wei Long | 3 | 1/4 | 1/3 | 0/0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6:49 |
| 10 | *Hong Wei Jian | 6 | 3/6 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 14:00 |
| 11 | Michael Wong | 0 | 0/3 | 0/2 | 0/0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 25:45 |
| 13 | Steven Khoo | 0 | 0/2 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5:46 |
| 14 | Lim Wai Sian | DNP | ||||||||||||
| 15 | Pathman Matialakan | 2 | 1/2 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5:34 |
| 19 | *Al Vergara | 11 | 5/13 | 1/4 | 0/0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 33:26 |
| 21 | *Marcus Ng | 13 | 5/7 | 0/0 | 3/5 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 36:08 |
| 31 | *Kyle Jeffers | 17 | 7/12 | 0/1 | 3/3 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 37:18 |
| 35 | *Michael LeBlanc | 19 | 8/14 | 0/2 | 3/6 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 32:39 |
KL Dragons Game Box Score
| # | Name | PTS | FG | 3PT | FT | OR | DR | TR | AST | STL | BS | TO | PF | MIN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 78 | 26/56 | 10/24 | 16/20 | 5 | 29 | 34 | 14 | 8 | 4 | 12 | 19 | 200 | |
| 1 | Wee Chuan Chin | 2 | 1/1 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4:13 |
| 3 | *Chris Daniel Kuete Lonichi | 11 | 4/14 | 1/2 | 2/2 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 29:48 |
| 5 | Ho Yeow Loong | DNP | ||||||||||||
| 10 | *Rudy Lingganay | 7 | 3/4 | 1/1 | 0/0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 33:10 |
| 11 | *John Ng Yeo Seng | 12 | 3/9 | 2/6 | 4/4 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 21:40 |
| 12 | *Bandaying Fhadzmir | 2 | 0/2 | 0/2 | 2/2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4:08 |
| 14 | Koh Way Tek | DNP | ||||||||||||
| 18 | Roel Hugnatan | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3:43 |
| 20 | Loh Shee Fai | 17 | 6/7 | 4/5 | 1/2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 23:07 |
| 30 | *Jamal Daryl Brown | 10 | 3/9 | 1/4 | 3/6 | 0 | 10 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 39:39 |
| 33 | Chee Li Wei | 6 | 3/4 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 13:36 |
| 88 | Guganeswaran S. Batumalai | 11 | 3/6 | 1/3 | 4/4 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 26:56 |
Hong Wei Jian (Slingers #10) had six points in 14 minutes of game time against the Dragons. (Photo 2 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Michael LeBlanc (Slingers #35) dropped 19 points on eight of 14 (57%) shooting. (Photo 3 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Marcus Ng (Slingers #21) had 13 points, shooting 71% (5/7) from two-point range. (Photo 4 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Al Vergara (Slingers #19) had 11 points and a team-high eight assists. (Photo 5 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Guganeswaran had a great all-round game, scoring 11 points and adding 5 rebounds, 8 assists and 4 steals. (Photo 6 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
John Ng came into the game having scored only 4 points all season, but had 12 alone today, including several huge shots. (Photo 7 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Chris Kuete (left) takes on Marcus Ng in a one-on-one dribble. The former shook off a 0-for-6 first half shooting slump to finish with 11 points. (Photo 8 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Jamal Brown had a double-double with 10 points and as many rebounds. (Photo 9 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Chee Li Wei (Dragons #33) had 6 points on 3 of 4 shooting from the field. (Photo 10 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
For more game pics, click here.
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Good job KL Dragons! The win should put the pressure anew for the Barracudas to win their next game against the Slingers.
A tough one for the Slingers. One, they’re playing against a team vying for the last playoff spot. Two, they’re playing in the road. In this league, getting road wins is very tough.
A victory by the Slingers in Brunei on Wednesday will create a very exciting final round of the regular season.
That’s because a win by the Slingers over the Barracudas in Brunei will put the pressure to the Philippine Patriots to win their regular season finale against the Barracudas to clinch first place heading to the playoffs in Manila. It will also put the pressure on the Barracudas to win their last game in Manila to clinch the last playoff spot. However, the Slingers still need to win in Bangkok (now playing the spoiler role) and hope for a Patriots loss at home to clinch the the homecourt advantage they (virtually) gave up due to the loss in KL.
KL Dragons, on the other hand, needs to beat the Satria Muda Britama and hope that the Barracudas would lose their last two assignments to clinch the last playoffs spot. SMB, even though they’re virtually a lock at 3rd place, wants to create the necessary momentum needed as they head on the playoffs.
Something that the KL Dragons do not know. If the Slingers would have lost to the Barracudas, the Dragons would be immediately eliminated from the playoffs. Dragons supporters should better be rooting for the Slingers for the next Slingers game.
If the Slingers want to eliminate the Dragons, they can deliberately lose to the Barracudas for the Barracudas to qualify, based on Brunei’s 2-1 record over the Dragons.
Even if Slingers lose to the Barracudas, they would still be at the 2nd spot because the Slingers defeated Satria Muda twice.
It really makes little or no difference for the Slingers if they win or lose, unless they are vying for the top spot.
something that some folks here do not know, the dragon’s locals were far better than the slingers locals on yesterdays game.
KL dragons will not make it to the playoffs though, their fate depends on the outcomes of the upcoming games as well. But i dont think that the slingers are dumb to purposely loose one game for the kl dragons to be eliminated.
@Slingerrocks. I have no doubt that the Slingers are going for the top spot. It’s pretty obvious. The top spot means home court advantage throughout the playoffs, and that’s very important considering that all of the teams (as of this time) is carrying a loosing record when playing on the road.
That’s why I mentioned in my previous post that the game on Wednesday is very crucial not only to Slingers and the Barracudas, but it will also reflect the situation of the Patriots and Dragons as well.
Another thing. If the Slingers beat the Barracudas at Bandar Seri Begawan, the Slingers have the chance to be the only ABL team this season to have a winning record on the road at the expense of the Tigers. Don’t you love to brag about that?
Slingerrocks,
Head-to-head record only comes into play when teams are tied on win-loss record. Satria Muda will improve to 9-6 if they win their final match, but Slingers can fall to 8-7 if they lose their last two.
Those interested in more pics from the game, you can go to: http://redsports.sg/gallery/?lzkfile=Slingers%2FDragons+vs+Slingers+Jan+17+2010%2F
1 vs 4
2 vs 3
Patriots Vs Barracudas or Dragons. Patriots win.
SMB will eliminate Slingers in playoffs.
Patriots win champ over SMB = Poor crowd. No more expectators from Singapore indoor stadium where regular attendees are australians, Filipinos and singaporeans.
Haluccinations between Phil vs Singapore will stop.