SINGAPORE – A nervous energy pulsated through the sell-out crowd at the OCBC Arena on Sunday (March 20) as Singapore Slingers forward Xavier Alexander restarted play after a time-out with just 18.7 seconds left in Game Four of the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) Finals.

With the score tied at 73-73, Alexander passed the ball on to team-mate Kris Rosales, who held on as he fended off a challenge from Westports Malaysia Dragons forward Matthew Wright.

As the clock ticked down to the final 10 seconds of the game, Rosales made his move. With three Dragons players charging at him, the 25-year-old twisted his body back and passed the ball to an unmarked Wong Wei Long.

With the eyes of the capacity crowd of 2,505 on him, Wong – who was recently voted the Most Valuable Player (local category) for the second season running – calmly sidestepped Dragons point guard Jason Brickman before pulling up for a jump shot that sailed into the net just as the buzzer went off.

The winning move sparked wild celebrations from the Slingers bench, as the cagers raced onto the court amid the cheers from the home fans to celebrate the 75-73 victory. Trailing 2-1 after three games, the Slingers’ win today will keep their ABL title hopes alive, with both teams tied at 2-2 in the best-of-five series after Game Four.

“I was lucky to receive the pass from Kris (Rosales), but I knew that I would be closed down quickly by the Dragons,” said a visibly relieved and exhausted Wong after the match:

“I saw Jason (Brickman) running towards me, and without hesitation, I got past him and pulled up for the jumper. It felt really good once it left my hand and I’m delighted that we managed to win because we were really determined not to give up till the last second.”

Slingers head coach Neo Beng Siang was happy to see his team execute his instructions perfectly. “I called for the time-out to remind everyone to be disciplined and to encourage them to run their socks off till the very end,” said Neo. “I told the players to get a shot away before time was up while ensuring that we didn’t give away possession cheaply and allow the opponents to hit us on the counter.

“Kris did a good job in holding the ball, before penetrating and finding Wei Long open. With his (Wei Long) experience, he managed to get in front of Brickman and got a good shot away for a huge win.”

While Wong may have stolen the thunder for his buzzer-beating shot, the Slingers owed a large part of their victory to the sterling performance of towering center Justin Howard.

The American bounced back from a substandard Game Three display on Friday (Mar 18) – where he only scored five points – to lead the scoring for the Slingers today with a game-high 31 points. Howard also contributed to his team’s vastly-improved defensive display as he also recorded a total of nine defensive rebounds and two blocked shots.

“I was very disappointed with myself after Game Three, but my coaches and team-mates continued to believe in me and encouraged me ahead of today’s game,” said Howard, 33. “They told me to just keep on trying to get my shots off, but also not to force the game when the ball came to me.

“So yes, I’m glad that I played well today. But at the end of the day, it was a great team effort. I never doubted that we would win, and we did what we had to do to get the victory in a do-or-die situation.

“It’s been a tough series so far, but we’re confident going into Game Five and are looking forward to achieving our season’s aim of winning the ABL title.”

Both teams will play the decisive fifth game at the Maba Stadium in Kuala Lumpur this Saturday (March 26).