Singapore slingers Vs the the Macau Black Bears
On the 31st of March the OCBC arena was swarmed with cheering fans of the Singapore Slingers and the the Macau Black Bears as they went head to head in the quarterfinal games. I was personally very excited to be caught up in the moment of it all, as attending Slinger’s games was a huge part of my childhood. It was special for me to be able to support my home team of my favourite sport once again. As the Black Bear are known for their diligent offence strategies while the Slingers pride themselves on their remarkable defence game, I knew I was in for a treat. I got exactly what I’d hoped for with the match being highly intensive keeping me on the edge of my seat and in some cases not being able to sit down from the excitement at all! The Slingers were in the lead in the first quarter and it seemed as though the Black Bears did not stand a chance. However, in a turn of events the Black Bears delivered a fire play in the second quarter being just short of 2 points compare to the slingers. Their play was made even better by an impressive 3-pointer by Ryan Watkins. Two of the star Black bear athletes McKinne and Dewarick Spencer had the Slingers worried pre-game due to their aggression and skill on the court. Although the players raked in the numbers for the bears, the man of the match was none other than the Slingers very own John Fields who finished with a beautiful 31 points for the home-ground team.
The crowd was also kept entertained by the slinger’s cheerleaders and their upbeat intermission performances and the kids of the crowd ran rampantly around the perimeter to catch the merchandise being slingshot-ed into the stands by the slinger girls. In the final quarter, Singapore was leading by a whopping 16 points and closed the game on a high with a 102-91 victory against the Macau Black Bears. The game turned out to be a high-scoring one which the Slingers are not used to. This was the first match of the best of 3 series between the Slingers and the Black Bears. The following two games scheduled for the 4th and 7th of April respectively will decide which team will advance onto the semi-finals.
Written by: Karisha Partabrai