Thanks to Nic again, the bunch of us popped over to the Indoor Stadium on Sunday to catch the second last match under the Singapore Challenge Series. This time round, the Singapore Slingers faced off with five-time Philippine Basketball League champion Harbour Centre and sent the visiting team packing without the $10,000 bounty.
The Slingers initially looked a little rusty with bad shots and missed passes after coming back from a well-deserved break. Even our big men found some difficulty converting shots in the paint. However the Slingers found themselves back as a team later in the game and the scoring began. Slinger bad boy Eric Sandrin led the team with 22 points and John Fitzgerald who clearly played his heart out driving in the lane while facing multiple defence and taking rough abuses from Harbour Centre put in 18 points.
Left: Eric fights to the rim | Right: Soaring to the cup
Left and Right: Fitzgerald relentless effort under the rim
Darren “The Doctor” Ng was somewhat quiet during the first half of that afternoon contributed 14 points in total. With Harbour Centre’s defence preventing Darren from providing the Slingers his usual three point threat, the rest of the Slingers called to arms and rallied against the visiting team. Armein Kirkland in particular poured in 15 points and Harbour Centre made him work for it. The visiting team paid no attention to Kirkland’s big 6′ 7″ frame and gave him the same treatment as Fitzgerald. It was a long night for these paint drivers.
Left: Darren going to the hoop… | Right: …and attempting a trey
Left: Krikland taking it to the hole | Right: Tried to draw an obvious foul but no whistle
It was no surprise how Harbour Centre played given that they hailed from the Philippines. Cheap shots, big fouls and tough defence aside, the visiting team managed to get by our big men with mid-range jumpers. Their 15-footers seemed pretty effective with the ‘ol driving in and sudden stop-pop-shot. Their passes somehow got through the Slinger defence leaving free players for multiple uncontested jumpers.
Left and right: Harbour Centre’s mid-range jumpers
Left: Shane trying to draw a charge | Right: Heavy defence leaving Shane with a turnover
Our local boys did us proud too with Steven Khoo and Wei Jian Hong providing six points in total. While catching some shots of the Slinger warm up prior to the game, I saw Hong dunking a couple of times. This guy has some flight in him. In my humble opinion, I think the Slingers have given our local boys some good play time and I am really looking forward to seeing them represent us more in the near future. Kudos to the Slingers for recoginising local talent.
Left and right: Khoo attacking the rim
Left and right: Some of Hong’s dunks during warm up
I was pretty peeved at the refereeing that night. There were big fouls not called and they tend to blow the whistle on the slightest of fouls, thus disrupting the game. But all in all, it was a good game as the Singapore Slingers won 97-72. The next and final match will be on this sunday, 11 January where they take on BC Bangalore. Tickets are available at Sistic.
More photos in my Flickr album here.
Related posts:
0 Response to “Slingers ships Harbour Centre home empty handed”