SINGAPORE — The Singapore Slingers foiled the Philippine Patriots’ late surge and rolled to their second straight win while Indonesia’s Sutria Muda Britama and Kuala Lumpur Dragons also won in the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) Invitational Championship.

American imports Kyle Jeffers and Mike LeBlanc and Marcus Ng delivered the telling blows as the Slingers outlasted the Patriots, 74-69, to take the early lead in the 6-nation tournament.

Over at Nimibutr National Stadium in Thailand, Sutria Muda Britama bounced back from a 67-75 loss to the RP Patriots last Saturday by eking out a 78-75 win over the Thailand Tigers while the Kuala Lumpur Dragons got back at the Brunei Barracudas, 76-73, in Brunei.

The Barracudas, who beat the Dragons 94-76 in their first meeting, was paced by former PBA players Don Camaso and Leo Avenido with 23 and 17 points, respectively.

In his debut for the Tigers, former Patriot Ricky Ricafuente sizzled for 23 points but his effort went down the drain after their last-ditch bid to turn the game around fizzled out.

The Patriots will battle the Thailand Tigers on Sunday at the Ynares Sports Arena – their first in the country.

"Our team played bad," admitted Patriots assistant coach Bogs Adornado.

"Our shooting was poor. We had crucial turnovers. We also got bad breaks."

The Patriots fell behind by 15 points in the third quarter but rallied in the fourth behind Christian Coronel, Warren Ibanez and import Jason Dixon that saw them cut the Slingers’ lead to 66-70 on a charity by Brandon Powell with still 28 ticks left.

The Filipinos had the chance to move closer after a turnover by the Slingers but to the horror of the Patriots’ coaching staff, Ibanez was called for a 5-second violation during inbound.

The 6-foot-6 Ng then sealed the win for the Slingers with four straight charities.

The Slingers, who beat San Miguel Beer and Coke during their exhibitions game here prior to the start of the PBA season, were led by the 6-foot-11 Jeffers with 17 points while LeBlanc, who played as import for the RP team in the SEABA championship in Jakarta, Indonesia last year, added 15.

The Patriots outrebounded the Slingers, 38-32 but they made only 26 of 74 tries from the field for 35 percent against 29 of 60 for 48 percent for the Slingers whose offense was orchestrated masterfully by Filipino guard Al 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.