By Ian Chew
Alex Hartman (Satria Muda #8) hits a jumper. He was untouchable in the second quarter when he scored on long threes and drove into the lane for easy lay ups. (Photo 1 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Singapore Indoor Stadium, Sunday, February 7, 2010 – The Singapore Slingers suffered a heartbreaking 76-86 home loss in the decisive third game of the inaugural ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) semi-final series against Indonesian club Satria Muda BritAma to bow out of the championship.
Satria Muda’s foreign imports Alexander Hartman and Nakiea Miller both starred for their team with 30 points and 22 points respectively to send their vocal contingent of supporters into basketball ecstasy in qualifying for the finals.
With the win, the Indonesian club champions go on to meet ABL favourites Philippines Patriots in a best-of-five games series starting in Manila next week.
Satria Muda had displayed early in the game they were not about to fold quietly when they jumped to an early 5-0 lead.
But the Slingers showed resilience in bouncing back from the early deficit, with Marcus Ng scoring a long three-pointer at the first-quarter buzzer for a 22-19 lead.
Tempers boiled over in the second quarter as Slingers point guard Al Vergara was whistled for a flagrant foul against Miller. Not one to take matters lying down, Miller confronted Vergara and earned a technical foul as a result.
The turning point in the second quarter was Slinger forward Michael LeBlanc picking up his third personal foul. Satria’s Hartman took full advantage of LeBlanc’s subsequent absence to down 12 of his 21 points in the quarter to spark his team to a 47-42 half-time lead.
The Slingers came out firing after the break though and went on a 16-3 run for their largest lead of the game at 58-50. A worrying moment also occurred for the Indonesian bench when Miller appeared to injure his ankle after illegally charging into a stationary LeBlanc.
But Miller returned soon after into action and showed a deft touch with an unlikely three-pointer to haul his team back to a 62-all tie at the end of the third quarter, setting the stage for an explosive fourth and final quarter.
Riding on their momentum, Satria Muda took advantage of a fast tiring Slinger team to steadily increase their lead. A desperate full court defensive pressure in the last few minutes by the home team failed to reduce the deficit as both Slinger starters Al Vergara and Kyle Jeffers exited the game.
Hartman then executed an emphatic dunk off a fast break move in the final seconds to seal the Slingers’ fate.
Frank Arsego, head coach of the Singapore Slingers tried to make sense of his team’s loss.
“We just could not keep up the intensity (in the final quarter) and had too many turnovers and made poor decisions down the stretch,” he explained.
Despite the loss, there were some positives for Arsego from the Slingers’ maiden season.
“It was a great fight and a good learning experience for us. This team has lots of potential for the future and I have enjoyed working with them,” he said.
Quarter by Quarter Scores
Slingers vs Satria Muda
1st Q: 22-19
2nd Q: 20-28
3rd Q: 20-15
4th Q: 14-24
Singapore Slingers Game Box Score
| # | Name | PTS | FG | 3PT | FT | OR | DR | TR | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | MIN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 76 | 30/76 | 6/20 | 10/19 | 19 | 30 | 49 | 10 | 6 | 0 | 16 | 24 | 200 | |
| 2 | Desmond Oh | 0 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7:52 |
| 5 | Wong Wei Long | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2:41 |
| 10 | *Hong Wei Jian | 17 | 7/13 | 2/6 | 1/2 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 27:38 |
| 11 | Michael Wong | 0 | 0/4 | 0/2 | 0/0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 12:35 |
| 12 | Prasad Sadasivan | DNP | ||||||||||||
| 13 | Steven Khoo | DNP | ||||||||||||
| 15 | Pathman Matialakan | 4 | 2/5 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9:50 |
| 19 | *Al Vergara | 6 | 2/7 | 2/6 | 0/0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 30:25 |
| 21 | *Marcus Ng | 15 | 6/12 | 1/2 | 2/6 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 35:40 |
| 31 | *Kyle Jeffers | 19 | 7/11 | 0/0 | 5/7 | 7 | 9 | 16 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 39:36 |
| 35 | *Michael LeBlanc | 15 | 6/23 | 1/4 | 2/4 | 5 | 9 | 14 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 33:43 |
Satria Muda BritAma Game Box Score
| # | Name | PTS | FG | 3PT | FT | OR | DR | TR | AST | STL | BS | TO | PF | MIN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 86 | 28/58 | 12/24 | 18/33 | 6 | 23 | 29 | 11 | 2 | 6 | 11 | 20 | 200 | |
| 5 | Faisal Achmad Julius | 0 | 0/1 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6:22 |
| 6 | Wendha Wijaya | 1 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 1/2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 9:00 |
| 7 | Amin Prihantono | 13 | 4/9 | 3/5 | 2/2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 30:28 |
| 8 | Alexander Gordon Hartman | 30 | 9/18 | 4/8 | 8/12 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 39:19 |
| 9 | Youbel Sondakh | 4 | 2/2 | 0/0 | 0/2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 16:54 |
| 11 | Galank Gunawan | DNP | ||||||||||||
| 12 | Bonanza Siregar | DNP | ||||||||||||
| 13 | Rony Gunawan | 4 | 1/4 | 1/3 | 1/4 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 21:11 |
| 14 | Welyanson Situmorang | 0 | 0/2 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 10:17 |
| 18 | Mario Wuysang | 12 | 4/10 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 32:11 |
| 43 | Nakiea Miller | 22 | 8/12 | 2/2 | 4/6 | 3 | 11 | 14 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 34:18 |
| 61 | Fattah Arifin | DNP |
Miller holds the family jewels after getting hit in the groin by Slinger Al Vergara. However, he was guilty of creating an unnecessary scene in a subsequent tirade at the officials. (Photo 2 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Mario Wuysang on a fast break while Michael LeBlanc (Slingers #35) pursues. The Indonesians did most of the hard running in the first few minutes. (Photo 3 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Rony Gunawan (Satria Muda #13) takes the measure of Pathman Matialakan (Slingers #15). He scored a late 3-pointer to trump the Slingers at their home court. (Photo 4 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Youbel Sondakh (Satria Muda #9) lays up past Pathman. Sondakh and his local countrymen posted solid numbers for their team for the win. (Photo 5 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Michael LeBlanc drives into the paint. He was plagued with foul trouble early in the game and had to sit out most of the second quarter. Satria went on a scoring run as a result. (Photo 6 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Hong Weijian (Slinger #10) finds himself with no place to go under the basket. Yet he did contribute a credible 17 points for his team and will be one of the key building blocks for next season’s challenge. (Photo 7 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Marcus Ng (Slinger #21) at the free throw line. His free throw misses were to later prove costly for the team. (Photo 8 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Michael Wong (Slingers #11) goes up against Gunawan. The Slingers captain could not inspire his team in the final minutes when teammate Al Vergara hobbled off with a knee injury. (Photo 9 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Miller indicates a three after sinking a three-pointer. He was perfect from beyond in the arc for a crucial 22-point contribution to his team. (Photo 10 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Popularity: 23% [?]
If there is an award for best import, i think Hartmann is gonna get it. Miller and Hartmann are great duos but they also get a lot of support from Prihantono who is a great shooter and Wuysang who gives them a lot of toughness. SMB is gonna give the Patriots a good challenge.
after the win in every slinger fans thinks its the slingers all the way but the incident with smb imports and the crowd just gave miller the needed fuel for the fire, a fire that will devour the slingers on their own land..sound poetic huh
but believe me it looks nasty on tv..haha
with the smb and patriots on the finals i hope the smb will be victorious.. being the underdog and a winless campaign againts the patriots its a comeback story that you only see in movies..this is what the sport and the league needs..
For the next season, Slingers should try to sign Stephen Marbury after he’s done with his adventure in China league.
OK… bringing Starbury maybe not a good idea. But please bring someone who can shoot and be a closer when Slingers needs the most. If you watched the game yesterday , during the last minutes when the scores were still close, you’d realize that nobody really stepped up and scored. Slingers just passed around the ball outside 3pt line, wasted the shot-clock and committed turnovers after turnovers. Now it’d be great if anyone (local/foreign/whatever) would just make something happened and turned the game around. I don’t expect miracle shot ala Kobe/LeBron, but at least someone who would drive in and draw a foul.
I’m just gutted that there will be no more Hoops action in Indoor Stadium till God knows when.
Actually, bring back Marcus’ big brother. I keep forgetting his name, but damn, that guy is a silky shooter.
Wuysang, wally good tandem for movie.
Patriots will welcome them in Manila.
@starkiller its darreng ng. yeap, i was hoping slingers will bring him back to the line-ups.
High intensity and hard fought game. Leads and momentum going back and forth, and only finally won in the last mins of the 4Q.
I felt that the Slingers got a little sucked into the explosive mood, and gave away some unnecessary fouls early, which could have been used at more opportune times later in the game. MLB’s 3 early fouls took away a defensive option for us, and playing with less aggression took away his offensive rhythm. We all know that Al V. is critical in running our offense, but Marcus at point was an interesting variant that cause SMB some problems.
It is true that we have limited weapons from the bench, so over a series, when opposing teams adjust to us, we lose the edge. KJ, Marcus and HWJ had good games, but the bench really did not provide any sparks. When Al went off injured late in 4Q, that ended our fightback. I felt that the refs let a lot of lower body checks go uncalled when the Slingers were attacking the basket in the Paint. But this should not take anything away from SMB’s performance on the day.
Hartman has good skills and it looks like he has heart. He played a big game on Sunday and was probably MVP. But I still don’t like ballers (esp pros) coming over to target fans, especially not when the game was still on (there were free throws being taken at the time). The particular fan was not behaving well……but that’s another story. There was a lot of provocation on both sides anyway.
Miller’s behavior is just not my cup of tea. Period.
Yes its true!! The SMB fans were fantastic. Loud, organized and supportive. They took away our “home court”. Many Slinger fans tried to respond, but we were uncoordinated, and not as effective.
Good luck to SMB in the finals. If they can win, I will smile a little because I am getting a little tired of the overly antagonistic and imho often misplaced nationalistic views of many of our Pinoy friends on these ABL threads.
@Nolah…on your post in another thread. Your views are exactly what I feel. Too much…too in our faces….too often, from some pinoys………takes away from a lot of bball fans enjoying the inaugural pro ABL and sharing their interests and passion with other like minded ppl across ASEAN.
Thanks to the Slingers for an enjoyable and “passionate” season. To coach A, Beng Siang and the staff, for building a good team, a credit to the game; spirit, effort and behavior wise. Hope you guys come back fairly intact next season. If you can replicate what you did this season…I’ll be booking my season tickets…and hopefully so will many more like me.
Thanks to Les and his Red Hoops crew for excellent and balanced coverage……volunteers no less.
The moment belongs to SMB and the Patriots. Enjoy. See you all next season.
Classy, Kelvin, and well said.
I agree with Slingtown fan about Kelvin’s comment.
Thanks for contributing to a higher standard of commentary, Kelvin.
We are all the better for it.
And thank you for the acknowledgment of the work we are doing on Red Hoops. It’s worth it for readers like yourself.
well said kelvin, especially on the pinoy fans
what most important is, to play with a lion heart over big head
zzz…philippines will be the champ in any ASEAN basketball competitions… maybe after 15 years…they can match PH
my sincerest apologies if our “nationalistic” views are overly antagonistic and often misplaced, but do understand that basketball is a source of our pride. (FC Barcelona’s all-time leading goal-scorer is a Filipino and yet most Filipinos don’t even know what FC Barcelona is.)
we may not like the Patriots for the simple reason that its players are PBA rejects and unproven college stars, but it bothers us when any other Southeast Asian team beats any team of Pinoy players so we support them (and all other Pinoys in the ABL) because they’re given a chance to showcase their talent against the best of the region. i honestly didn’t know who Vergara was until the Slingers signed him, i didn’t think Lingganay was pro-worthy until i saw a KL Dragons game, i thought Adriano and Camaso were washed up and done until i saw a Barracudas game.
the Patriots could beat SMB and Pinoy fans could care less whether they win or lose (except a few of us who follow the ABL). to the Slingers fans, your team had a brilliant season and i’m sure you’re all proud of their effort. they have a brilliant coach in Arsego and the resources to find quality imports. your team will only get better and they’ll be back with a vengeance next year.
@Becks: Yep. Darren Ng! Darren can definitely be the additional offensive spark we need in the next season. During Slingers Challenge series he was one of the key weapons we had. I’m also down with keeping Marcus though since he’s done a great job slowing down perimeter players.
@Kelvin: Well said and I cannot agree more.
@Les: We all know how important Redhoops is for our local hoops scene. Keep up the good work!
I’d like to add that this is a proper maiden season for our Slingers (no, the NBL seasons were not a proper season since there were only a couple of locals in the team) and despite there are lots of basketball courts in our HDB estates, professional basketball is kinda new to Singaporeans. Yes, we know about NBA, but general public doesn’t really follow NBA on daily basis and following the development in the league as the season goes.
That goes to our Slingers, whose local players are still foreigner in the ‘professional’ territory. Don’t get me wrong, they are good, skillful and have great potential, but they never played in such intense games in front of thousands of crowds, especially in a playoff game where every possession is important.
On the other hand, SMB is one of the oldest professional basketball teams in Indonesia. They have been champions numerous times in Indonesia and they have a great coach in Fiktor Roring, who was member of Indonesian team that won SEABA 1997 in Surabaya, Indonesia (possibly the only time when SEABA wasn’t won by the Filipinos). Most of SMB players have been in a must-win situation like in the game 2&3 and they are pretty much better mentally.
I believe if Slingers can keep the core team, they would be able to perform better next season. I’d also love Slingers to keep LeBlanc and Jeffers since they gel well with our local boys and play good team-basketball. Per my first comment, it’d be great to add a dependable closer, someone who has a big heart to score in the last minute.
And it’d be great if he’s a local too.
It sucks that I wasn’t able to watch the game last Sunday, but I was able to read this article and get to catch its highlights. Thanks to Ian for the article, and FIBA-TV for the highlights.
I would say that both teams are impressive, and played with the sense of urgency. I guess it was Satria Muda who came out in the 4th quarter and spilled every ounce of energy showing that they wanted to win the game more.
I also would like to give props to Mario Wuysang for playing brilliant. One particular when he scored an and-one over Michael LeBlanc off the break. It might look like a simple lay-up, but the way Wuysang protected the ball with his body and getting the contact to LeBlanc was very a smart move. Considering that Wuysang a smaller player than LeBlanc, Wuysang was able to prevent LeBlanc from setting himself up for the block. I expect him to bring that same level of brilliance when they play in the finals.
My hats off to the Slingers, they really played exceptional basketball this season, and certainly will be back a lot better. The team is well organized, been together longer than any other team outside Satria Muda, and they’re well-coached.
ALL in ALL i would like to give CONGRATS to the Slinger’s and the Slinger’s Organization for fighting hard and making it this far in just thier first year…..
But i have one thing to say…..DAMN REFS…U COULDN’T OF HELP ANY OTHER WAY THAN CALLN MY HUSBAND FOR 3 FOULS IN THE 1ST QUARTER AFFFTER HE HAD BACK TO BACK BUCKETS???Which made him HAVE to sit out….. HMMM WHAT DOES THAT SMELL LIKE??? ROBBERY…if YOU ASK ME….or as MANY predicted Malaya n Philippines set up all year long…BUT they haven’t beaten the Patriots ALLLL YEAR!!!
ENJOY
Wuysang is just a good passer, but soft ball handler,cannot run the floor as quickly as any PG, not a legitimate scorer,not a treat.. SMB will now face the big difference with his wrong decision..
yo ho dorra, it’s indonesia… and stop sourgraping, after all we can all see who the better team. don’t tell me that with out le blanc the slingers can’t win no morre.
this isn’t the slingers 1st year, in the abl yes, but as far as i know they have a long history of being failures in the nbl.
The play off this coming friday in Manila might not attract home crowd, if PBA have a play on same date. Patriots are the weakest as far as local supporters are concern.
Go Slingers!
@lrangels: Yep, that was one smart move from Wuysang. He’s a well-experienced player and SMB did the right thing to recruit him mid-season.
@Dora: At least two of the foul calls did smell bogus. I was along with a number of Slingers fans yelling “Referee SUCKS!”.
@Jake: Most of the expansion teams are failures in their first few seasons, just look at Grizzlies, Raptors and Bobcats. Slingers was an expansion team in NBL and consisted of players who never played together before. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe Slingers went to the NBL playoff in their maiden season, which was not that bad.
Speaking of expansion, most of ABL teams are ‘expansion’. The only ‘existing’ teams are Slingers and SMB. As I said earlier, SMB has been around for a long time with a core team of local players who’ve played together for years, so I’m not fully surprised if they’ve reached finals. On the other hand, the only current Slingers players from NBL days are Pathman and Michael who didn’t have much playing time back then.
Props to coach Arsego who trusts our local players and give them plenty of minutes and let’s hope he’s staying and keeps our core team together.
@Hanoi-Dalat and/or anyone: Does anyone here know why there’s no PBA team in ABL? Why would they create a new team instead of getting one of the PBA teams to participate in ABL? I can foresee a huge support from Filipinos if teams like Ginebra or Pure Food is competing in ABL. Plus it’s gonna be good for the league to have more quality teams.
Starkiller, Inspite of too many leagues (PBA,UAAP,NCAA,LIGA,PBL,other college league, etc.so on and so forth), contineously failed to discover new talents especially from countryside,where there much lots of potential players..
PBA have good salary cup that can attract players (that became a hindrance,company/team cannot sustain due to economic reasons) instead of playing for a country for international competitions for FIBA,asian games,etc.
Patriots send amateur player,less salary compare to pros.
Congratulations Singapore Slingers, despite the loss, you did extremely well this season! I had a hunch that somehow SMB will win over the Slingers. While it is true that the Slingers have been around for sometime as a team, their basketball maturity pales in comparison to that of Satria Muda. SMB has a storied past, winning so many closely contested games. As the leading ballclub in Indonesia they been through the experience of play-off basketball a lot of times already and it clearly showed that they can handle it well.
Slingers on the other hand is a young ball club but despite that they were a able to land second in the standings before the play offs. Singapore do not have a basketball scene that is comparative to that of Indonesia’s, yet they were able to assemble a competitive basketball team. Slingers lacked the experience of championship games. In fact i think the ABL is their baptismal fire to this brand of basketball.
To our Singaporean friends, I say all the best in getting basketball glory. Once the kids in Singapore start playing bball, things are gonna be way way much different. For sure, the Slingers will be a championship caliber team next year.
To the Slingers, Mabuhay from the Phils!
@Starkiller – PBA games are played 3-4 times a week (depends if there’s an out-of-town game) every year except during holidays, April, and September. the ABL games run from October to February. it’s not hard to figure out that those two leagues will always have a conflict in schedule so there’s no way to get a PBA team to play in the ABL.
the latter stages of UAAP & NCAA games conflict in October with the ABL. that’s why Coach Alas didn’t start the season because CSJL was still playing while Mirza made the lineup because UST was already eliminated. Baclao, Espiritu, and Acuña were added to the Patriots later on after the UAAP finals. i believe they played in the Phil. Collegiate Champion’s League knockout games while the ABL was still on-going.
there wouldn’t be a problem if a PBL team joins the ABL because their games are played when no other league around plays. not sure about Liga Pilipinas. that’s why most of the players from the Patriots have played in the PBL.
Congratulations to both SMB and the Slingers. It was a hard-fought game, with the age and competition experience of SMB being the difference in the stretch.
It is important for all of us fans to build up the ABL in order to elevate the quality of play in the region, and eventually to create top-class entertainment. While it is fun to be partisan with our teams, we also have a responsbility to encourage ALL the teams to do well for this purpose. ASEAN players are just as good as say the Chinese, who are now making headway in the NBA. To have some players from tha ABL make it to higher pro levels will give the entire region collective pride.
That is why also I am not in favor of having a PBA team join the ABL — at the moment. The level of play in the PBA is much higher, with more expensive players. Most teams in the PBA will just dominate the ABL, and will simply kill the league as there will be little interest from other countries. When play reaches the same level, then by all means bring in the best pro teams. PBA teams play at the CBA or USBL level. Right now the ABL, at best is at the US college or NCAA Div2 level. It will improve with all our support. I would rather that the ABL, again for now, allow more experienced Filipino players to play in other teams so that ALL the teams become equal. Then, phase out the majority of the imports and replace them with more locals. That would make the league unpredictable and more competitive and fun for all of us, and will downplay the sometimes over-the-top nationalstic fervor. It will be a true pro league for basketball fans. Peace.
it was a good season for almost all of the teams in this tournament. I really think that the ABL has a lot of promise particularly to the other ASEAN countries that doesn’t have a good basketball culture (say Laos and Cambodia). It would be a blessing to all of us if all of the ASEAN countries field their teams in order to create a regional league that can tap the potential market size of the region. The league will also develop basketball as a sport and increase participation by locals which can lead to greater market capacity of the sport and may even bring more talent to the international stage.
SMB will beat philipine patriots!
I hope the Patriots lose the championship so that they can revamp their line up. Really, their local players are a huge let down.
any article on the new teams next season?
Go Vietnam..
Just arrived home & had no computer access while away… read the Fiba plays. The Slingers are a great club & I wish they had won…. Congrats to the Slingers who had a good season despite the series of injuries, sickness, etc. as they still overcame it all & stuck with their bench holding a 25 point league advantage, 2nd place behind the Patriots with 26 (according to Redhoops) in the ABL. This is a true picture of the Players/Coaching abilities & next season will be even better!!! We are PROUD OF YOU SLINGERS!!
Thank you Redhoops!
Kelvin: DITTO!!!! Nailed it!! Hope to be hearing from u next season!
Peace Out!
KJ became more mature, but cant win a champ if play with weak slingers team locals
Positive sign for the Slingers is HWJ’s play.
They need another local to follow his steps. WWL disappeared as the season progressed. Is he playing with an injury?
Slingers need Jeffers and Le Blanc for second seasons.
Yes Slingers need those 2 American’s back!!
Agreed! The Slingers also need Al Vergara back.
if these players come back healthy,slingers will be more dangerous