ABL: Jeffers to Slingers' rescue

THE Singapore Slingers ended their three-game losing skid with a 69-66 comeback victory over the Thailand Tigers in their Asean Basketball League (ABL) match at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore last night.

It was sweet revenge for the Singapore side who were upset by the Tigers 62-65 at the same venue on Dec 7.

The Tigers led for much of the game yesterday before the Slingers turned the tide in the final stanza.

With the scoreboard reading 52-61 in favour of the Tigers with six minutes left in the game, the Slingers rallied to outscore the visitors 14-5 to tie the scores at 66 apiece with a three-point play by American import Kyle Jeffers with 19 seconds left to play.

Jeffers missed the ensuing freethrow but hauled down the offensive rebound to set up his compatriot, Michael LeBlanc, to score the winning basket with 16 seconds left.

Piyapong Piroon had a chance to tie the game with two seconds left but Jeffers came up with a block to settle the tight match.

Jeffers led the Slingers with his double-double of 20 points and 13 rebounds while LeBlanc and Marcus Ng each had matching 15-point and nine-rebound performances.

Piyapong topscored for the Tigers with 19 points and Ratdech Kruatiwa chipped in 12 points in a losing effort.

The win pushes the Slingers up to second in the six-team table with a 6-4 win-loss record and 16 points. The Tigers are now in fourth place with a 3-8 record and 14 points but having played two games more than the Barracudas and KL Dragons who are both on 13 points.The Brunei Times