Slingers in Asean Basketball League Finals after ousting HK Eastern

Apr 18, 2019 06:00 am

The Singapore Slingers reached their first Asean Basketball League (ABL) Finals since the 2016/17 season after an 80-73 victory over Hong Kong Eastern in Game 2 of their play-off semi-finals last night.

Centre John Fields top-scored for the Slingers again with 26 points, followed by swingman Xavier Alexander, who starred with a triple-double (22 points, 16 rebounds and 11 assists) as the Singapore side, who won last week's Game 1 at the OCBC Arena 101-70, clinched the best-of-three tie.

Neo Beng Siang's men found themselves trailing by eight points with 10 minutes left, but still did enough to secure victory at the Southorn Stadium in Wan Chai yesterday.

They will face either CLS Knights Indonesia or last season's runners-up Mono Vampire in the Finals. The two sides meet on Sunday for Game 1 and next Wednesday for Game 2 of their semi-finals. Game 3, if needed, will be on April 28.

The dates for the best-of-five Finals will be announced after that. The Slingers have yet to win the ABL Finals, finishing second twice (2015/16, 2016/17).