INQUIRER Sports

SINGAPORE? The Singapore Slingers showed the Philippine Patriots they still have some growing up to do in the Asean Basketball League.

Flashing better teamwork and firepower, the Slingers downed the Patriots, 74-69, Sunday to become the only unbeaten squad with two wins at the Singapore Indoor Stadium here.

With American import Jason Dixon missing point-blank shots and several wingmen struggling from the field, the Patriots trailed in the entire second half and were down by as many as 15 points, 54-39, in the third quarter.

?This Singapore team has been together for three months and you can see they?re a well-oiled machine,? said Patriots assistant coach Bogs Adornado, who called the shots in place of the still unavailable coach Louie Alas.

?Our team played bad,? added Adornado. ?Our shooting was poor.?

The Slingers relied on US reinforcements Kyle Jeffers and Michael LeBlanc for the scoring load, but Marcus Ng and Filipino import Al Vergara also delivered in key stretches in the second half.

?I think the biggest thing for us was absorbing pressure,? the Slingers? Australian coach Frank Arsego said. ?There was a lot of full-court pressure. Al had to work extremely hard. We did a better job against their zone defense and that made them go back to man-to-man. I think that helped us.?

The Patriots, who debuted with a 76-69 over Indonesia Satria Muda BritAma in Jakarta, slipped to 1-1, in a tie with the Brunei Barracudas.

Brandon Powell, a member of the former US NCAA champion team Florida Gators, led the Patriots with 15 points and 11 rebounds.

Although the Patriots came within four points twice in the last three minutes, Jeffers and Ng responded with clutch baskets for the Slingers.

Vergara, the former PBL standout who has been playing for the Slingers for a year, delivered 11 points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals.

?It?s hard to play against your country, so I just think that I?m only doing my job,? said the 5-foot-8 Vergara.

The scores:
SINGAPORE 74?Jeffers 17, LeBlanc 15, Ng 13, Vergara 11, Matialakan 8, W. Wong 7, Hong 2, Oh 1, S. Wong 0, Sadasivan 0, Khoo 0, Lim 0.

PHILIPPINES 69?Powell 15, Dixon 12, Coronel 9, Ybañez 8, Gaco 7, Baguion 6, Mirza 5, Sta. Maria 4, Wainwright 3, Andaya 0, Daa 0, Mondragon 0.

Quarters: 18-15, 34-30, 54-42, 74-69