Satria Muda slay Slingers

Indonesian side meet Patriots in ABL finals.

SATRIA MUDA BRITAMA stunned the Singapore Slingers 86-76 in Game Three of their semi-finals yesterday to move to the finals of the Asean Basketball League (ABL).

This is the first time that the Indonesia Basketball League (IBL) champions had defeated the Slingers at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore in three meetings and the victory couldn't have come at a better time.

Satria Muda had four players in double figures with Alex Hartman leading the way with a game-high 30 points while Nakiea Miller posted a double-double with 22 points and 14 rebounds.

Amin Prihantono and Mario Wuysang scored 13 and 12 points respectively in the triumph.

The Slingers also had four players in double figures with Kyle Jeffers contributing a double-double with 19 points and 16 rebounds while Hong Wei Jian had 17 points.

Their other import Michael LeBlanc had a double-double with 15 points and 14 rebounds while Marcus Ng also scored 15 points in a losing effort.

Both teams battled neck and neck from the tip-off with the Slingers dominating the boards.

However, they failed to capitalise on it and were down 9-11 midway through the opening period.

Satria Muda were moving the ball around and knocking down their shots, but it was the Slingers who took a 22-19 lead into the second quarter with Ng hitting a buzzer beating three.

Satria Muda started the second period on the wrong foot with Miller picking up a technical foul for failing to keep his cool after the Slingers' Filipino import Al Vergara gave him a low-blow which was not caught by the referees.

This, however, only motivated Hartman as he carried his team on offence firing on all cylinders from both inside and outside to help Satria Muda open up a 47-42 advantage at halftime.

Hartman had already produced 21 points at the interval while Miller only scored two points from two shot attempts in the first half.

The Slingers came out storming in the third period, opening with a 16-6 run to regain the lead at 58-53 midway through the quarter.

However, Satria Muda were not going down without a fight as they picked up their defence and turned to Miller at the offensive end, rallying their way back to tie the game at 62-apiece heading into the final stanza.

Both teams exchanged baskets for the opening minutes of the final quarter and neither could jump in front.

However, Satria Muda turned up their defence midway through the period resulting in the Slingers making turnovers.

The Slingers were leading 69-67 courtesy of a Jeffers putback with 7:18 to go in the game, but they went cold on offence and were held without a single field goal until the final minute.

This helped seal the match for Satria Muda.

The Slingers outrebounded their opponents 49-29, but the hosts only made 30 out of their 76 attempts (39 per cent) from the field compared to Satria Muda who made 28 out of their 58 attempts (48 per cent).

Both teams shot poorly from the foul line with the Slingers going 10 for 19 (53 per cent) and Satria Muda making 18 of their 33 attempts (55 per cent) from the charity stripe.

The Slingers made 16 turnovers compared to Satria Muda's 11, but the Singapore side converted none of those into points while the visitors scored nine points from that.

The Indonesian side will now meet the league's early favourites, the Philippine Patriots, in Game One of the best-of-five final series on Friday in Manila.The Brunei Times