The Singapore Slingers steamrolled their way to a fourth consecutive win, thumping Satria Muda 96-72 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

By Vincent Lai

Michael LeBlanc led the Slingers with 23 points, with Kyle Jeffers adding 19 points and 15 rebounds. Hong Wei Jian and Wong Wei Long chipped in 13 apiece from the bench, and Desmond Oh played lockdown defence on Indonesia's guards.

Alexander Hartman managed to conjure 28 points in the losing effort, as he tried to put the team on his shoulders. Rensy Bajar added 11 points with four assists.

If anyone thought that the game against the Philipine Patriots was physical, Satria Muda's approach to the game was a whole other level. Bodies were hitting the deck just after Kyle Jeffers won the tip, as Desmond Oh got acquainted with the yellow wood of the paint twice in the opening minutes.

Points were at a premium early on in the game as both teams clamped down on defence, swarming the perimeter and doubling the post area when the ball was dumped to Kyle Jeffers of the Slingers or Theophilus Little of Satria Muda.

But after a series of fouls, the game came to life with six minutes left in the quarter as the Slingers went on a 10-2 run, which ended with Satria coach Fictor Roring calling a time-out as Oh drained a three to put Singapore up 16-6.

The Slingers did not let up after the timeout, piling on another 14 points in the remainder of the period as LeBlanc, Wei Jian and Wei Long all chipped in to end the quarter with a 30-14 lead.

Things did not get any better for Satria Muda as they just could not buy a basket coming out of the break. Sondakh, Prihantono, and Hartman all tried, but the Slingers defence simply swallowed them whole and came away with the ball.

The men in yellow simply could do no wrong as they steadily built a 23-point lead with close to seven minutes to go in the quarter, with Wei Jian capitalizing on slack defending to sink a go-ahead three.

Satria Muda's offence was in a serious funk, and it showed as Julius stole the ball from Vergara at the center circle, only to miss the lay-up at the other end.

Al Vergara got hurt in this possession as he got tangled with Julius and fell to the ground clutching his knee. Singapore's Filipino point guard had to be carried off the court, leaving the Slingers without their veteran floor leader to see out the remaining 4:06 left in the second quarter.

But the Slingers hardly missed a beat as they continued to shut down Satria Muda on one end, and throw down the hammer on the other. Coach Roring tried to salvage the situation by bringing on Little to add some size to the middle, but Singapore was already too far ahead.

At the half, both LeBlanc and Jeffers had scored 12 apiece, with Hong adding ten points in less than nine minutes to lead 53-24.

Satria Muda tried to get back in the game in the third, but their full court press defence was too little, too late, as they could only trade baskets with the home side.

Hartman tried to get going in midway through the third quarter, emphatically rejecting Wei Jian's dunk attempt and scoring a trey on the other end.

Indonesia's American import tried to put his team on his back, driving to the basket strong, but he just could not sustain the effort, scoring another two points, before being subbed off with less than a minute left in the third.

Singapore closed out the quarter strong as Wei Jian sank another three to end the period with a 76-50 advantage.

With nothing more than pride to play for, Satria Muda came out of the break firing, as they went on a 7-2 run to start the fourth, with Hartman capping the run with an emphatic jam.

Slingers coach Frank Arsego opted to bring on his starting line-up to stabilize the situation, and the change worked wonders as Singapore responded by playing good team basketball, with Desmond Oh driving to the basket to find Jeffers for the lay-in. LeBlanc then added another fadeaway as Singapore maintained their poise.

And Satria Muda could get no nearer than 21 points as the Slinger rolled with the punches to win their fourth consecutive victory 96-72.