source: singaporeslingers.com
The Singapore Slingers fought valiantly as they lost to the Smart Gilas Pilipinas 70-67 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
Kyle Jeffers top-scored for the home team with 20 points, adding 11 rebounds in the losing effort. Local boy Hong Wei Jian added 12 points, most of them coming in a third-quarter explosion.
CJ Giles raided the Slingers’ basket for 21 points and 11 rebounds, while Japeth Aguilar scored 14 points in the narrow win.
The Slingers struggled in the first quarter as bigmen CJ Giles and Japeth Aguilar dominated the paint with a block each and many, many deflections.
Singapore’s Hong Wei Jian was made a passenger of the game in the first quarter as the Pilipinas’ zone effectively shackled the athletic swingman.
Slingers' starting point guard Al Vegara kept the Slingers in the game, as did Kyle Jeffers and Marcus Ng, who did their very best to keep up with the length of the Gilas with four points apiece in the first period.
Giles, Aguilar and Marnel Baracel ruled the paint for Smart in the first quarter, with the trio scoring 12 of the Pilipinas’ 14 points.
Aguilar energized his team late in the first, when he fed off a turnover by Hong and took the ball coast-to-coast for a reverse jam.
Singapore trailed 17-14 when referee Richard Sim blew for the end of the first period.
In what is becoming a common trend in Slingers games, Singapore roared back to life at the start of the second quarter, as Frank Arsego got his team to up a gear.
With CJ Giles taking a break on the bench, the Slingers took control of the boards, which fuelled their running game. One foray into the Gilas’ trapezium on the break led to Wei Jian evading two defenders in the air with a double clutch layup, with the guard scoring with the grace of Sasha Cohen.
Singapore led 31-25 as a result with 2:18 left, when coach Rajko Toroman was forced to call for a timeout.
Giles was re-inserted into the game and Smart’s ‘twin-tower’ game returned. Aguilar, who had been keeping the Gilas’ in the game with his twelve points in the half, fired up the crowd with an emphatic block on a Jeffers’ dunk attempt. Joseph Casio then sank a three as the Filipino visitor ended the half trailing 35-31.
Toroman’s half-time talked must have worked, as Smart Gilas came out in the third quarter firing. Casio came into the spotlight once again, as the burly guard rained in a three from downtown to take a 36-35 lead for the Gilas with nine minutes left.
The Slingers failed to respond as their offence stagnated, and Smart took control of the floor with Baracael scoring on consecutive trips down the floor. Arsego called a time-out with Singapore trailing 42-37.
The Slingers head coach put Hong back into the game and the guard provided a scoring outlet for the home team, sinking a mid-range jumper and a go-ahead three, gesturing to the crowd as the Gilas called time with 3:35 left in the third, Singapore leading 45-43. Hong would score ten points in a third quarter explosion.
The moment of the night then came as CJ Giles brought the Singapore Indoor Stadium to its feet as he rose to dunk in the alley-oop from Mark Barroca, then unleash his fury as the 6-11 center slammed the ball through off a miss.
Giles would add another fadeaway jumper as Smart Gilas Pilipinas took 56-52 lead heading into the final quarter.
Controversy crept into the game as the referee Leong Cheun Wing assessed the Pilipinas for a technical foul on a substitution halfway through the fourth quarter, leading Toroman into a verbal spar with the men in grey and a holdup in the game. Vegara sank one of the two technical free throws that followed.
The game picked up the pace even more with both teams trading baskets and Slingers import center Kyle Jeffers return the favor on CJ Giles with a monster dunk which brought the local crowd to life, during this period Pilipinas coach continuing his dialogue with the refs at every opportunity.
Toroman was further infuriated when the ball was seemingly tipped out of the basket, the coach running the length of the court to protest the no-call. The crowd, with a good portion supporting the Pilipinas, jeered the three-man referee crew as well as every following Slingers free throw.
The score remained close, but the momentum had swung in the Pilipinas way as Arsego called time with 50 seconds left to regroup.
The Pilipinas were forced into a shot-clock violation with five seconds left on the clock, but the Slingers failed to get a shot off as they registered their first loss to a Filipino team in seven games, losing 70-67.
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