Much love to both Nic and of course Daphne for organising this, I popped over to the Indoor Stadium on Sunday afternoon with Len and a few other Spartans teammates to catch the clash between the Singapore Slingers and San Miguel Beermen. Having won one and lost two of four matches under the Singapore Challenge Series as a result of unnecessary turnovers and bad plays, we all arrived at the stadium with much anticipation hoping that the Slingers will for the lack of a better phrase, ‘wake up their idea’ and complete the series with a 50% winning average.
Don’t get me wrong, I still think that our local team players are good and have loads of potential. But I can’t begin to tell you how frustrating it is to see them choke under pressure. As professionals (well..kinda), I expect a little more from them especially after the last game against Ginebra.
Thankfully this time round, our team not only prevailed but managed to climb back from a 15-point deficit to take the game 71-65. Nevermind that it was all Michael Leblanc (okay, I have a little more faith in him this time round) who carried the entire team on his back during the last few minutes of the game. Everyone contributed and despite executing rusty plays at some occasions and careless dribbling fumbles (did I a hear Marcus Ng?), the Slingers remained focus and kept their eye for a ‘W’.
Tip off
However, the San Miguel Beermen aren’t exactly pushovers and their performance overall was superb, constantly giving our home team a very tough time. Armed with prominent big men such as #4 Dorian Pena and #34 Mick Pennisi, the sheer size of these two towers are enough to intimidate anyone driving towards them (or at least think twice). To Len and I, big men seemed to be a missing link in the Slingers’ lineup and aren’t exactly happy campers when we discovered that Brown who played for the first two games is not a regular, but that is another story.
Left: Pena giving Marcus the ‘ol “Thank you come again” block shot | Right: Pathman tries to stop Pena
Left and right: Pennisi taking the Slingers down…he was fouled out eventually
I was also surprised to find #29 Arwin Santos playing for the Beermen this season. He is no stranger to the Slingers having played twice against them as an Air 21 player during last year’s Singapore Challenge Series (here and here). Always with a look of intensity in his eyes, he is one heck of an agile player with great flight. However, it was #7 Dondon Hontiveros who led the Beermen with 18 points, three rebounds and three steals as well as #1 Mike Cortez who contributed 11 points, three rebounds and one block shot.
Left: Santos takes a contested shot | Right: Tough one-handed rebound
Left: Hontiveros finds the rim | Right: Loses Marcus and heads to the hole
Left: Cruz skies for a block against Wei Jian | Right: Losing the already tight ‘D’ from Michael Wong
Despite facing a formidable foe, the Slingers still held their head high with four of our players coming up with double digits. Our imports #9 Michael Leblanc led the Slingers pride putting up 14 points, three rebounds and two assist followed by #30 Kyle Jeffers who made 13 points, two assists and pulling down a whopping 10 rebounds. With encouraging performances by these two major contributors, I am hoping to see a little more consistency between the both of them as we head towards the Asean Basketball League (ABL) beginning this Sunday. We are going to need a lot from them.
Left and right: Leblanc fearlessly scores against an intimidating Pennisi
Left: Jeffers can layup… | Right: …Jeffers can shoot
Most noteworthy was local Slinger #15 Pathman Matialakan who also contributed 13 points (similar to Jeffers) by making five of seven attempts with four rebounds. Having witness him play for a good three seasons or so (I’m sure he played for more than that), Pathman has matured much from a once softy (as compared to other league players) to big tough guy. Heck, even on a number of occasions, I heard coach Frank calling for plays with him as a scorer. Although consistency is an issue, I believe it won’t be long before he becomes a major threat to any team. Of course Philippine sensation #1 Al Vegara is in his usual super point guard mode hitting 10 points, three assists and two steals.
Left: Pathman firing at all cylinders | Right: Trying to follow through after taking a foul
Left: Al takes it hard to the rim | Right: Fires an open shot
Our local boys may not have put up as many numbers, but their defence was air tight giving the Beermen little space to breath. #5 Wei Long has been most noticeable with numerous harassment attempts made against the Beermen ball handlers. His effort was soon rewarded with a super steal followed by a breakaway lay in. Perhaps the only local Slinger dunker, Wei Jian too made many valiant efforts in the face of a tough Beermen defence. His super speed and drives at under the basket if further honed can be a real danger to any opposing team.
Left: Wei Long finishes after the steal | Right: Size does not matter
Left: Under the basket courtesy of Wei Jian | Right: At the charity stripe
As the horn sounded to mark the end of the game and this year’s Singapore Challenge Series, we departed completely ecstatic and breathless with our fist pumped in the air. Len who paid more attention to the surrounding has more about the game here. If the Slingers continue their dominance on the board and game intensity like today, they will be ready to plow through any ABL team that come their way. Their first game will tip off this Sunday at 4pm against the Brunei Barracudas led by veteran coached Bong Ramos who was once Indonesia’s national coach.
Come support your local team (finally) as we aim towards taking this year’s ABL crown. Tickets are super affordable from $8 to $18 and are available at Sistic.
More photos in my Flickr album here and here.
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