S17 - Singapore Tournament - Fallin Stars : SBBL's Shohoku Backers, Sessioes Doers, Singapore Showstoppers out of tournament.
Seven down, one escape.
For the first time in Singapore BB history, Seven team from SBBL are out of tournament on the same night.
Shohoku Backers 106, Bobblehead 119
8 points halftime lead by Bobblehead turned into 19 at the end of 3rd quarter, and Shohoku hardly climb back at 4th, and finally letting Bobblehead enjoying one of their best game performance as they held off the Singapore rank #1 Shohoku Backers for the first time on their Franchise history. Turkey's Oben Erzan 48 is unguardable, racked up 48 points. Aljaž Smrečnik led Shohoku with 32pts, Agislios Kostis has 25pts. Jason Peachey have 14 pts and Momente has 10 pts.
Cheesecake 103, Slingers 123
With Cheesecake rest most of their key players, Slingers didn't let the chance slip through, used a balanced attack to dominate the game from start until end of game. Slinger, who normally weak on outside defense, showed a fair effort to contain Cheesecake's shooters, although they missed one, letting Juan Pablo Ruggiero to rack 42pts. Manthos Klidis led Slingers with 29pts.
Compassvale 102, Xavis 83.
Compassvale United have no problem to shut down fatigued Xavis team, scored a lot of easy inside basket. New acquisition, U21 bound Lin Chuan Loong, have no problem blending with the current squad, racked 12pts and 9rebs in 22minutes on his debut.
Angel & Devil 152, Phantomech 157
A former SBBL, and top shooting team, Phantomech, won shootout contest through Overtime. Tony Cordier led the team with 36pts and Ioan Petcu with 30pts. Ivan Gardosa led A&D with 39pts.
Singapore Slashers 109, Singapore Showstoppers 108
Tough loss for Showstoppers, as they've just enjoyed an impressive victory from Jaguars two nights ago. With both team tied on 108-108, referee called a foul on Ahmad Mobin for body contact Marco Zahonero, ended with Zahonero sank one of two free throw, to bring Slashers advanced to big 16. Marijan Vucenovic led Showstoppers with 38pts. Ong Yi Ying led Showstoppers with 28pts.
Sessioes Doers 86, Raging Dragons 94.
We will have new Grand Final candidate, as second year team and on the rise, Raging Dragons, created their first soundly victory against one of SBBL juggernaut, Sessioes Doers. Both team were exchanging lead, until 4th quarter, the Dragons hit the nitro button to speed ahead by 11pts. Time running out when Yap Kwang Meng 3pointer merely cut it to 8 points. Gianantonio Galante led Dragons with 28pts. František Šarvan led SD with 22pts, Roberto Paz has 15. U21 Yap Kwang Meng has 12pts and 10asts.
SLZH 101, Whampoa 87
The S17 Tournament Champions, SLZH, are on their way again to score the 2nd, after their marvelous effort to beat out former Defending Tournament Champs, Whampoa Allstars. As usual, SLZH displayed a strong passion from the start, brought them 28-19 lead, but Whampoa tied it at halftime, 47-47. From that point, SLZH with their hulky bigman, Jarno Merikangas, was totally unstoppable. Coming from their first B3 win, Merikangas powered inside for 19pts (9-11 FG) and 15rebs, showed the obvious difference on the game as he kept crashing the boards. SLZH outrebounded Whampoa 53-40.
The lone team that escaped from upset los were Eric United, who were survived 96-87 after trailed 4 points with 5 minutes left on 4th. Harri Simenson sparked 10-0 run that saw Eric on 91-84 with less than a minute, and Eric hung on for the narrow victory.
Key matches next week? All game deserved to watch. The big 16 will only feature six SBBL team, but expected to be more competitive than before with the rise of lower division teams.
Will Eric United survive the Raging Dragon? Home Court Advantage no longer guaranteed. Ask Singapore Showstoppers.