Slingers shake off slow start to stamp their mark
The Singapore Slingers claimed a second consecutive victory after defeating CLS Knights Indonesia 92-81 at GOR Kertajaya Arena in Surabaya last night.
The Slingers shook off their bad habit of starting sluggishly, and took to the court with all guns blazing to improve their win-loss record to five-five.
However, Slingers' coach Neo Beng Siang believes that the team still lack consistency in the four quarters.
The 56-year-old said: "This time around, we adjusted a little bit on our warm-ups and timings so we started strong.
"But when we got ourselves up by close to 20 points, the team's defence broke down and we were playing our own individual game, and that let them (Knights) back into the game."
The visitors carved a 35-21 lead in the first quarter, before the Knights reduced the deficit to 42-45 at half-time.
| CLS KNIGHTS INDONESIA 1 | SINGAPORE SLINGERS |
| 81 | 92 |
The Knights' Mario Wuysang levelled the score at 45-45 just 10 seconds into the third quarter with a three-pointer, and the Knights took advantage of that to pull five points ahead.
But Neo's men rallied to end the third quarter 68-62 in front, a lead they maintained all the way.
The Slingers' local shooting guard Ng Han Bin was the team's joint-top scorer with Xavier Alexander at 22 points.
The Slingers' next match is against Thai side Mono Vampire at the OCBC Arena on Friday. - SHARIFAH MUNIRAH
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