BY DAWN TAY

THE Singapore Slingers' hopes of winning the Asean Basketball League (ABL) came to a crashing end at the Singapore Indoor Stadium yesterday.

Despite winning the first game of the play-off semi-final series last week, they lost the deciding Game 3 to feisty Indonesian side Satria Muda BritAma 76-86 in front of a 1,500-strong home crowd.

Coupled with last Wednesday's Game 2 loss, the crushing defeat meant the end of the Slingers' season, as the second seeds lost the semi-final series 1-2. Third-seeded Satria Muda, on the other hand, marched jubilantly on to the ABL Finals, where they will meet top seeds Philippine Patriots in a best-offive series.

It was a far stronger Satria Muda side which returned to the Indoor Stadium, looking a remarkably different team from last week's, with improved three-point shooting and a tenacious defence.

Indeed, the vastly improved team defence was key to the overall victory, said their key player, Alexander Hartman, who was the game's top scorer with 30 points.

Said the American: "In Game 1, we let them get to the paint, pass around us and shoot, but when we went back to Jakarta, we really worked on our team defence, and that was what gave us the win over there and here."

On the contrary, while the Slingers had moments of brilliance, they could not replicate the sort of swashbuckling performance that led to their Game 1 win.

Consistency was what was lacking in the Singapore team throughout the game, lamented coach Frank Arsego. He added: "In the last quarter, we really needed to be clean and sharp. But we made those unforced errors, we didn't make the right decisions.

"This game will be a learning experience the young players can take away."

At the end of the third quarter, it was still anyone's ball game with the score tied 62-62, in a close-fought match that saw multiple lead changes.

However, nerves got the better of the Slingers in the decisive final quarter, as they made more than half of their 16 turnovers in that quarter alone.

Satria Muda seized the chance to go on a 14-3 run, aided by Hartman and centre Nakiea Miller.

Miller - whose only notable moment in the first half was getting a technical foul for haranguing Slingers' Al Vergara for what appeared to be a low blow to his groin - woke up in the second half to pour in 20 points, including a couple of unexpected three-pointers.

While the Slingers had four players in double figures, led by American Kyle Jeffers with 19 points, it just was not enough to leave the home fans standing on their feet.

The 1,500-strong crowd featured a significant number of Indonesian supporters who made their presence felt, at times making the Indoor Stadium feel like a Jakarta arena.

However, Arsego thanked the home fans, believing that there are still positives to take away from the disappointing end to the season.

"I think we've sort of brought basketball back to Singapore," he said.

dawnt@sph.com.sg

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