The Singapore Slingers will travel to Jakarta on Tuesday for Game 2 of the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) semi-final play-offs on the back of a resounding 87-68 victory over Satria Muda BritAma in the opening game yesterday, but will go there wary, cautious, and knowing that they have to bring their ‘A’ game once again in order to come out tops.

“It’s not going to be easy. Satria Muda have shown that they are a resilient team, and no matter what happens in the previous game they will always come out strong,” said backup centre Pathman Matialakan.

“They have home-court advantage, and the fans are going to be behind them. We got to keep ourselves calm and work on a few things, because playing at home and on the road is not the same. Coach will come out with a plan for us, and as players all we have to do is to execute.”

Little went wrong for the Slingers in Game 1. They controlled the boards, stayed out of foul trouble, shot the ball well and were active on defence, while the Indonesian team were overwhelmed and their American imports, Alexander Hartman and Nakiea Miller, were visibly frustrated at the proceedings.

“I think we prepared really well. I thought we tried to have confidence, which I thought was good. The start was good. We understood that they would fight back, and that’s what good teams will do in the finals,” said Slingers head coach Frank Arsego, on how well things panned out for his charges.

“But we hung in there. We had a bit of a problem against the zone. We haven’t play against much zone lately, so that was a bit of an adjustment.”

He identified two key aspects of Game 2, which will be played on Wednesday, February 3. “Being able to defend on the road. We’ve worked extremely hard this year to understand what it takes to perform well on the road, and our 4-3 win-loss record is the best in the league. So we’ve learnt some good things.”

He continued, “I think apart from the defensive side of things, is to be able to handle the emotional environment that we’ll be in when you’re playing away, in a big game. We had that when we played Brunei in the second-to-last game. It was full-on. But the boys responded beautifully. I think we’ve had some of that experience and I’m hoping that it’ll help us when we get to Jakarta.”

“But there’s no question that we have to play our best game to get a win over there. We haven’t really done that in our last two games there, but we’ll be there giving it our best shot.”

The Slingers eked out a 61-59 road win against Satria Muda on November 14 last year despite trailing by 10 with three minutes to play, but were well-beaten 67-58 a month later when they met again at the BritAma arena.

Then, Slingers top-scorer Michael LeBlanc had his worst game of the season, missing all ten of his shots and scoring a season-low six points. And he acknowledged that the team could not take a 1-0 series lead for granted.

“It will be tough in Indonesia. We just have to do the things that we do well. We are one of the few teams that have a winning record in the league and that’s because we have mental toughness and cohesiveness. In the face of adversity, we don’t give up and find a way to get things done.”

Singapore Indoor Stadium, Sunday, January 31, 2010 – There is something about playing Satria Muda BritAma at home in the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) that brings the best out of the Singapore Slingers.

The Slingers shot 51.6% from the field and made 13 consecutive free throws in an 87-68 victory over the Jakarta-based team in Game 1 of the ABL semi-final playoffs. This was the second heavy defeat suffered by Satria Muda at the hands of the Slingers in the same arena, the first being the 34-point rout on November 1 last year when the home team shot a league-high 63.5% from the field.

Michael LeBlanc led the Slingers with 22 points, 10 rebounds and five steals, and Kyle Jeffers added 21 points and 10 rebounds as all five starters reached double figures.

Satria Muda’s Alexander Hartman needed 21 shots to score his 21 points, while Nakiea Miller had 18 points and 13 rebounds, but tied an ABL record with eight turnovers, as their team made only 34% of their shots in a game where they were always second-best.

“We’ve already played three games against them, and this was our fourth. We know a lot about this team. We did a lot of homework, watched a lot of videos, and basically know their weaknesses,” said backup centre Pathman Matialakan.

“As the home team in the first play-off game, we wanted to come out aggressive. That was the key today. Coach (Frank Arsego) wanted us to come out aggressive, be on the front foot and take the game to them, and that’s what we did. They never recovered from it.”

Point guard and floor general Al Vergara opened the scoring with a lay up plus the foul, but missed the ensuing free throw. That proved to be the only miss from the charity stripe until the fourth quarter when Marcus Ng failed to convert. In between, the Slingers, the worst of the four play-off teams in free throw accuracy at 55.9%, made 13 consecutive shots from the line, while establishing a double-digit lead and never allowing Satria Muda into the contest.

The key to that was keeping Hartman and Miller in check. Marcus and Jeffers were the respective ones ear-marked for that role for most of the match, and performed admirably against the pair of teammates who have collectively scored 45% of their team’s points in the regular season.

Marcus, who is among the league leaders in fouls per game, finally stayed out of foul trouble and bothered Hartman into a six of 21 shooting performance from the field, while adding 10 points and six rebounds of his own in a standout performance.

“Marcus did a great job on him. He stays in front of him, and is active. Marcus just has to continue to do what he does,” said Jeffers as he praised his teammate’s effort.

“He’s an excellent defender, and I think Hartman has a hard time trying to play against him. He’s going to hit his shots, but for the most part, he’s not going to have a great night against Marcus. Not many people have great nights against Marcus, unless he’s in foul trouble, then they might get off. But Marcus is a solid defender against Hartman.”

Jeffers himself restricted Miller to below his league-leading 20.7 points per game average, as the latter’s lateral quickness in his post moves was simply not enough to carry his team. Jeffers was modest when asked to appraise his match-up with Miller, saying, “I’ll let the stats speak for themselves. We’re both pretty solid under the basket, and I think it’s a fair matchup for both teams. It’s just whoever has the better night.”

The Satria Muda centre eventually fouled out with three and a half minutes to go, with his team trailing by 20 and showing little fight in them.

They did keep the game close in the first half, and after Pathman made two free throws to hand the Slingers a 29-17 lead with six minutes left in the half, Satria Muda restricted the home team to just a solitary field goal over the next four minutes, and tied the game at 31 when Jeffers goal-tended Rony Gunawan’s lay up.

Satria Muda trailed by only four at the break, but the Slingers, aided by the Hong Wei Jian’s energetic second-half display, extended the lead into double-digits as their opponents continued their inept shooting display.

Wei Jian drew two pivotal fouls from Miller, made all four of his free throws and drew special mention from coach Arsego. “We brought him in, in that third quarter, and he was just aggressive, got some free throws, lay ups, and challenged Miller. I’m very proud of him. That was the little spark we needed just to kick on and see whether they would respond. I think they found it hard.”

Jeffers beat the third-quarter buzzer with a turnaround jumper to make it a 62-51 Slinger lead, and then the game turned into a rout soon after. LeBlanc led the way with a couple of three-point plays, and scored half of his game-high 22 points in the final period.

A 14-3 run, highlighted by Jeffers’ one-handed put-back slam, over the first four minutes of the quarter extended the lead into its twenties. Steven Khoo’s lay up gave the Slingers their largest lead of the game at 23, as the home team played with their second unit to close out the game.

Game Two of the best-of-three series will be played in Jakarta on Wednesday, February 3, and if necessary, a third game will take place back in the Singapore Indoor Stadium on Sunday, February 7. But as far as the Slingers’ Pathman is concerned, they will hope to avoid playing a Game 3.

“We’re not looking forward to coming back here (for Game 3). We want to finish the game off in Indonesia, and come back for a good rest. But all we’re thinking of is the game on Wednesday. That’s it.”

Quarter by Quarter Scores
Slingers vs Satria Muda
1st Q: 16-13
2nd Q: 19-18
3rd Q: 27-20
4th Q: 25-17

Singapore Slingers Game Box Score

Satria Muda BritAma Game Box Score

ABL 2009/10 Regular Season Stats: Game-highs (Team)

ABL 2009/10 Regular Season Stats: Game-lows (Team)

ABL 2009/10 Regular Season Stats: Game-highs (Individual)

In Red Hoops’ second part of the 2009/10 ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) Season Review, team defence is the focus.

The Brunei Barracudas may have averaged the most points per game (78.9), but they have also allowed the most (82.3 points per game). If we take a closer look at point differential (points scored minus points allowed) for each team, we would have a clearer picture of how each team manages their points at both ends of the court.

Barracudas: -3.4
Dragons: -4.0
Patriots: +5.5
Satria Muda: +2.9
Slingers: +3.4
Tigers: -4.4

They would rank as they are on the league standings, except that the Barracudas and Dragons have swapped places.

The Patriots have the stingiest defence in the league, allowing opponents to make only 37.6% of their shots from the field. Their opponents’ three-point field goal percentage of 28.7% is also a squeak under the league-leading 28.5% by the Tigers.

Opponents are most likely to have a block party at the Slingers’ expense, as they have rejected 64 of the team’s shots, 11 more than Satria Muda which is next to last.

The Slingers drew the most fouls in the league (20.5 per game), and also lead the league in rebounding differential.

Barracudas: -4.5
Dragons: -3.5
Patriots: +3.2
Satria Muda: +1.6
Slingers: +4.7
Tigers: -1.5

Check back tomorrow when we will go through the ABL game highs for individual and team.

ABL 2009/10 Regular Season Stats: Team Defence

ABL 2009/10 Regular Season Stats: Team Defence

ABL 2009/10 Regular Season Stats: Team Defence

After 45 matches played over the course of more than three months, the inaugural ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) regular season has come to a close.

This region finally has a professional basketball league to call our own, and we’ve seen our fair share of thrills and spills as the six teams battled for league supremacy and a coveted play-off spot.

We now know the identities of the four teams taking part in the 2009/10 post-season, but before the first match tips off on Sunday, January 31, here are some number-crunching information about all six teams.

You may know that Satria Muda’s star centre Nakiea Miller led the league in scoring, rebounds and blocks, but do you know which team is ahead in those categories?

The Patriots have clinched first position in the league (and home-court advantage throughout the play-offs), but which aspect of the numbers game are they the weakest in?

Stay tuned to find out all these, and much more, as Red Hoops brings you the first installment of the 2009/10 ABL statistical season review.

Knock yourself out.

Team Offence:

Let’s start with team offence. The Singapore Slingers led the league in field goal and three-point field goal percentage (although they took the least number of shots in both categories), but are second from bottom in free throw percentage, making only 55.9% of their league-high 338 attempts from the charity stripe. Steven Khoo and Al Vergara led the league in individual field goal and three-point field goal percentage over the course of the season.

The Brunei Barracudas were one of the better shooting teams in the league, ranking second in FG% and 3FG%, and third in FT%, but their accuracy will not be seen in the post-season as the team finished fifth, and out of a play-off spot.

Satria Muda BritAma paced the league in rebounds, steals and blocks per game. Miller was the runaway individual league leader in the rebounds and blocks, particularly in the latter category. He blocked more shots (41) than three teams could manage.

Miller also led his team in steals and was ably aided in this department by Alexander Hartman and Faisal Julius.

The Thailand Tigers finished bottom of the league and may have been hurt by their lack of ball movement and retaining of possession. They were last in assists and turnovers per game.

The KL Dragons made a brilliant late push for the play-offs and were rewarded when they won three of their final four matches. They ranked second in the league in free throw shooting accuracy (66.4%) and shot 81% (47 of 58) in those three vital victories.

Free throw shooting will definitely come into play during the play-offs and the Dragons will look to use their hot shooting from the charity stripe to their advantage. The flip side is that they will play a Philippine Patriots team that leads the league in this discipline.

The league leaders also had the most assists (14.7 per game), and racked up the most fouls in the league (21 per game).

Check back tomorrow when we will have the statistical breakdown of team defence.

ABL 2009/10 Regular Season Stats: Team Offence

ABL 2009/10 Regular Season Stats: Team Offence

ABL 2009/10 Regular Season Stats: Team Offence

The BritAma Arena, Jakarta, Saturday, January 23, 2010 – After three attempts, the KL Dragons (KLD) of Malaysia were finally able to beat Indonesia’s Satria Muda BritAma (SMB) 70-67 in the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL).

It was an important win for the Dragons as they climbed to the fourth and final play-off spot, ahead of the Brunei Barracudas, in the league standings.

The starters for SMB were Nakiea Miller, Alex Hartman, Youbel Sondakh, Christian Sitepu and Mario Wuysang, while KLD started with Jamal Brown, Chris Kuete, Rudy Lingganay, Fhadzmir Bandaying and John Ng.

Throughout the game, the imports figured in several one-on-one matchups. Jamal Brown was up against Nakiea Miller while Chris Kuete faced Alex Hartman. Brown and Miller got entangled several times at the low-post and with the taller Miller getting the better of Brown, the latter changed his strategy and started hoisting up three-pointers, but with only 33% of success.

Miller continued to have his way until the Dragons started to double-team him. Hartman and Kuete also ended up guarding each other, and although Kuete was out-scored by Hartman, Kuete quietly delivered impressive numbers, shooting almost 65% with three assists and four steals.

The most exciting periods of the game were during the last five minutes of the first quarter, and the last six minutes of the fourth. The first quarter saw SMB leading throughout, taking advantage while the Dragons were still adjusting and trying to figure out their way around.

Things started to turn around when Guganeswaran Batumalai of KLD made two free throws, which were his only points of the game, with 2:37 remaining in the quarter.

From then on, the Dragons were pretty much in control of the game until the last six minutes of the game when Hartman hit a three-point shot to tie the game at 60, and exciting the home crowd. Brown then answered with his fourth three-pointer of the night and Lingganay made a difficult lay-up in traffic to extend the lead to five at 65-60.

Both teams then couldn’t buy a bucket for almost two minutes until Miller split his free throws, and scored another two points after the shot clock expired on the Dragons possession to cut the Dragon lead to two points.

Another split at the charity stripe by Miller inched them closer by one point, but Lingganay hit a fall-away jumper from around 16 feet near the free-throw line to again extend the lead to three points. But another three-point bomb by Hartman in the following possession tied the game at 67, leading to loud cheers erupting from the home crowd.

After a Dragon timeout, SMB employed a full-court man-to-man pressure defense which resulted in a steal by Amin Prihantono, but he could not hold on to the ball and committed a travelling violation that led to Guganeswaran setting up Loh Shee Fai for a three-point shot with 53 seconds left.

Like a fairytale script, Loh’s only three-pointer of the game turned out to be the game-winning shot after neither team could make a shot in the final minute though Miller did miss a crucial dying seconds shot.

The game could have been won and lost at the free throw line. Although the Dragons only went to the line 11 times, they converted 10 of those into points, while SMB shot 24 free throws but made only 14, a 58% conversion rate.

Before tip-off, Dragons’ coach Goh Cheng Huat emphasized that they needed to concentrate on their defense if they wanted to win the game.

“I’m relieved, but I was not looking beyond this game and was not thinking about the playoffs before the game”, coach Goh remarked after the game.

He added: “If we don’t make it to the playoffs, we can’t blame the other teams’ results, it is also our fault that we didn’t win enough games (to secure a place in the playoffs).”

Satria Muda BritAma Game Box Score

KL Dragons Game Box Score

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

KL Dragons Game Box Score

For more game pics, click here.

Join the Red Crew of Erwin Wong and Jan Lin for the live play-by-play commentary of the match at the MABA Stadium in Kuala Lumpur.

Singapore Indoor Stadium, Wednesday, January 6, 2010 – In a Singapore Slingers season usually headlined by the stellar play of American imports Kyle Jeffers and Michael LeBlanc, it was local lad Steven Khoo who took his turn as an unlikely hero.

Steven scored six unanswered points in a 20-second span late in the fourth quarter to seal a 67-59 Slinger victory over the league-leading Philippine Patriots team in the 12th round of ASEAN Basketball League (ABL).

With less than two minutes to play and the Slingers clinging on to a three-point lead, Steven converted on a baseline jumper to make it 59-54. One technical free throw later, he found himself wide open at the top of the key beyond the arc, and coolly sank his first trey of the season to jack the lead up to nine to put the Patriots away for good.

“I had no idea about it, but I was open. I had to shoot it,” mused Steven, when asked to describe the dagger shot.

That sealed yet another comeback victory by the Slingers, whose previous three victories have now come after incurring double-digit deficits. The Slingers, notoriously slow starters who have trailed after the first or second quarter in eight of their eleven games this season, were cold again in the early stages of the match.

Val Acuna, Robert Wainwright and Christian Coronel all hit from beyond the arc to contribute to a huge 17-5 Patriot run to start the game, while Marcus Ng and Jeffers scored the Slingers’ only two baskets of the quarter as the home team shot an ignominious 2 of 14 from the field in the opening 10 minutes, and trailed 21-9 after one quarter.

Elmer Espiritu’s two free throws extended the advantage to 14, but the trademark Slinger run got off and running, with LeBlanc leading the way. He missed all five attempts in the first period but scored almost at will in the second, chalking up 15 of his game-high 21 points on six of seven shooting.

LeBlanc’s jumper opened a 9-0 run to cut the lead to five, and then he produced two clutch plays at the end of the half to tie the game. He drew contact from Wainwright on a successful lay up and converted the three-point play, and after stealing the Patriots inbounds pass with 10 seconds to go in the half, rebounded his own missed free throw to score and level the game at 29 apiece. The Slingers held their opponents scoreless for the final three minutes of the half, as LeBlanc single-handedly hauled his team back into contention.

“I was trying to relate to my teammates to stay focused and not to worry about the scoreboard. It doesn’t matter if we are down or up, we still have to play hard and just try to execute. If we do that and be consistent, we know we will catch up and have a real shot at the game,” said LeBlanc, who had 17 points and seven rebounds at the break.

Backup point guard Wong Wei Long praised LeBlanc’s effort, which was his first 20-point game in a month. He said, “I think what he did in this game was great, especially in the second quarter. After all the injuries, shingles and other external hindrances, he is really on the way back to form.”

It was still level after the third period too, as the Slingers managed to muster their first lead all game long and opened up a five-point advantage with LeBlanc’s two free throws, but that was quickly erased in a ding-dong, see-saw battle which saw consecutive lead changes late in the quarter.

Jason Dixon, who led the Patriots with 21 points, two off his season-high, scored his team’s final eight points of the period after muscling his way inside the paint and making multiple trips to the line. His rim-rattling dunk from a Coronel feed gave his team a 45-42 lead, but the Slingers would have the last word of the quarter as Michael Wong found the mark from behind the arc to make it a one-quarter game.

The Slingers again scored the opening basket of the quarter with Jeffers’ spinning lay up, and opened a 55-49 lead midway through the period after Michael Wong’s three-point play – part of an eight point, 3 of 3 shooting night for the Slinger co-captain.

Dixon answered back with a three-point play of his own with 100 seconds to play, but that merely set the stage for Steven’s entrance into the game as he came in for Marcus who fouled out on that play, and performed the late-game heroics which has caused his star to rise and earn plaudits from his coach and team mates alike.

“I cannot say enough about Steven,” said Slinger coach Frank Arsego. “In games like that, you look for a hero, and we’ve got our hero. He got an unsportsmanlike foul (on him), came down and made the free throw, shot in the corner, and hit that big open shot at the front, and got to the foul line, and rebounded and just competed.”

An ecstatic Arsego continued, beaming with pride, “It should be on the front page of the paper, ‘Steven Khoo gets Singapore over the line.’ It was fantastic.”

LeBlanc added to the growing list of tributes, saying, “I don’t like to single out players, but Steven played out of his mind! Not just on the offensive end, and he did some great things on offense, but he made a couple of big rebounds and played good defense.”

Steven, who came into the game with season totals of 12 points and 7 rebounds but had 8 and 6 today alone, was modest when asked whether he thought of himself as a hero. He said, “(I’m) not really actually (a hero). We win as a team. We all played like a team today.”

The morale-boosting victory over the Patriots means that the Slingers are the first team to have a better head-to-head record against the ABL leaders, who, with their full squad and deep roster, were widely expected to blow right by the Slingers. This was not lost on coach Arsego.

“That’s something to be very, very proud of in our first season against a country that has a very strong culture, and they’re proud of that. We achieved my personal goal, and that was to send a message to the rest of the league that the Slingers are not done with. And even if we may have lost this game, just the way we fought and played and stuck to a game plan, showed me that there was enough left for us to go through the rest of the season and really be strong.”

He continued, grinning widely, “(It was an) outstanding performance. To have the number one team coming into your home gym with a very impressive roster, and for us to come together collectively as a team, I’m the proudest man in Singapore. You can quote me on that!”

Both teams will face the KL Dragons as their next opponents, in the space of two days. The Patriots will play in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, January 9, while the third-placed Slingers face the Dragons two days later in the former’s final home game of the regular season.

Quarter by Quarter Scores
Slingers vs Patriots
1st Q: 9-21
2nd Q: 20-8
3rd Q: 16-16
4th Q: 22-14

Philippine Patriots Game Box Score

Singapore Slingers Game Box Score

Mario Wuysang of Satria Muda goes up against Guganeswaran (in white) of the Dragons. (Photo 1 courtesy of ABL)

Kuala Lumpur, Tuesday, January 5, 2010 – Satria Muda BritAma beat the KL Dragons 69-57 to continue their impressive form in the ASEAN Basketball League.

Satria Muda have now won five out of their last seven games, their only two defeats coming at the hands of the Philippine Patriots. The Jakarta-based team look good for second place in the league standing which gives home-court advantage in the playoffs.

The game also saw the introduction of point guard Mario Wuysang, 30, who was brought in to replace Rensy Bajar in the Satria Muda squad.

Nakiea Miller was dominant in the paint for Satria Muda, hauling down a game-high 22 rebounds while contributing 16 points. Teammate Alexander Hartman scored a game-high 26 points, a feat matched by Chris Kuete of the KL Dragons.

Satria Muda blew the game open in the second quarter, limiting the Dragons to just seven points, and they took a 19-point, 40-21 lead into the half-time break.

The Dragons never got closer than 11 points in the third quarter but managed to get to within eight (57-65) with 1:16 left in the fourth. That was to be their last scoring effort and the home team went down to their second defeat in a row.

The Dragons have won only two out of their last five games and now have a 4-7 win-loss record. The Dragons are bottom of the ABL table but have played two games less than the fifth-placed Thailand Tigers. Satria Muda improve to 7-5.

Only the top four qualify for the playoffs.

Quarter by Quarter Scores
Dragons vs Satria Muda
1st Q: 14-24
2nd Q: 7-16
3rd Q: 16-13
4th Q: 20-16

KL Dragons Game Box Score

Satria Muda BritAma Game Box Score