The Singapore Slingers bitterly lost their crucial series decider 76-86 to Satria Muda BritAma in Game 3 of their ABL Playoffs first round.

By Vincent Lai

Kyle Jeffers had a monster game for the Slingers, scoring 19 points and grabbing 16 rebounds, with local boy Hong Weijian adding 17 points in less than 28 minutes of play.

Alexander Hartman had his revenge after a poor shooting night in Game 1, tallying 30 points on 50 percent shooting, while Nakiea Miller added 22 points and 14 rebounds in his battle against Jeffers.

The Slingers were desperate to rebound from their 74-45 thrashing at the BritAma Arena in Game 2, and the signs were good in the first three quarters of the game, with both teams tied at 62 apiece when the third period ended.

Alas, Singapore came apart with less than seven minutes left in the game, as costly turnovers paved the way for Hartman, Miller and company to have a parade at the freethrow line. Hartman's three-pointer with 6:57 left in the game gave Satria Muda the lead for good with the Indonesian side having a 70-69 advantage at that point.

"I think we could not sustain the high level required throughout the whole game," Slingers coach Frank Arsego told ESPNSTAR.com after the game. "There were times when we created some good chances for ourselves, but we just couldn't finish, and they were able to come down and make some difficult shots."

"In the last quarter when we needed to be keen and sharp, we had far too many turnovers," added Coach Frank. "As the pressure builds in this sort of games, you have to make good decisions, and I think we let ourselves down a little in that area near the end of the game."

"We probably didn't make the right decisions enough to get the ball up on the rim."

ABL topscorer Hartman just didn't seem to miss in this game, doing most of his damage in the first half, before fellow import Miller took over the paint in the latter half of the game.

"I felt in the zone, man! I was really ready for this game," Hartman said in a post-game interview. "I've never played in a first-round game final, I've never done this, so, I really wanted to come out and show that I could help my team the best that I could."

"I had a bad shooting performance the last time we were here [in Game 1]. So I came in to show people that I can shoot. So the first half was my half, and the second half was Nakiea [Miller's]."

And shoot they did, as Satria Muda made enough shots to win the game even though they were hammered on the boards, with Singapore controlling the caroms with a 49-29 advantage. The Slingers were woeful in shooting the ball in Game 3 though, and it affected their inside-outside game.

After losing the lead with less than seven minutes to go in the game, the Slingers went cold and just didn't score for a three-minute period - a death sentence in basketball.

"I think our execution was fairly good, but we didn't shoot the ball particularly well," said Slingers center Jeffers about his team's shooting woes. "So, when we can't shoot the ball well, it's hard to get the ball into the paint."

And the home side struggled to make even the simplest of entry passes into the post as BritAma just sagged off their perimeter players, egging them to launch brick after brick from long-range.

A mini four-point revival from Hong, affectionate known as 'Fly-boy' in these parts, gave Singapore some hope with 21 seconds left in the game as he slashed the score to 81-76 with a trey and a freethrow.

"I was thinking of our last trip to the BritAma arena, I hit two three-pointers in the last thirty seconds of the game and won the contest," Hong said, referring to Singapore's 61-59 last-gasp win in the regular season. "Coach [Arsego] was also hoping for that to happen as well. That's probably why he kept me in the game; to let me shoot those three-pointers."

Not this time though, as the Indonesian side held on with baskets from Hartman and Miller, as the Slingers were eliminated from the ASEAN Basketball League Playoffs.

Satria Muda BritAma will now take on the Philippine Patriots in the ABL Finals, in a best-of-five series to decide who is the best in the Southeast Asian region.

Key Player

Alexander Hartman came back to the Singapore Indoor Stadium a man on a mission as he tore into the Slingers defence for 30 points on an efficient 50 percent clip. The Satria Muda import scored from an array of finger-rolls, fadeaways, three-pointers (four of them!) and a tomahawk jam to put away the Slingers in this game.

Key Moment

Al Vergara injured his knee with less than four minutes to go in Game 3, and that dealt the Slingers a blow that they could not recover from, as they lost a steady floor general who could dictate the tempo for the home side and execute the team's plays flawlessly. To say that Singapore collapsed after Vergara's exit would be an understatement.

Key Number

50 Satria Muda shot and made an insane 50 percent of their three-pointers, making 12 treys to contribute 36 points of the total 86 points they scored. In contrast, Singapore only made 30 percent of their treys, but dogged rebounding kept the home side in the game.

View from the press row

Singapore's swansong of the 2009-10 ABL season against Satria Muda was anything but pretty. However, one incident stood out and it involved point guard Al Vergara and center Nakeia Miller.

Miller barged into Vergara early in the first quarter on a screen and the feisty Filipino wasn't too happy about it. The guard proceeded to return the favour by grabbing the bigman's 'family jewels' which provoked an inevitable strong reaction from Miller.

The Satria Muda center tried to go after the Slingers' floor general, but was restrained by his teammates for good reason. The referee later penalised both players with technical fouls, but this incident was a precedent for the uber-physical play that would follow in this game, given the bad blood between both teams.