SEA Games: Fatigued Singapore fall in basketball bronze match against Thailand
Singapore’s basketball team failed to retain the bronze medal they won in the previous two editions of the SEA Games after suffering a 65-55 defeat to Thailand at the MABA Stadium in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday (26 August).
Throughout the game, they appeared to be affected by fatigue of their previous match. Just less than 24 hours ago, they went toe to toe with defending champions Philippines and it appeared that they might have expended all their energy in that game.
“We did a lot of really good work against Thailand today. But the boys were fatigued – mentally they did not switched on and lacked the energy,” Singapore coach Frank Arsego said after the game.
It was always going to be tough against a much-improved Thailand side, which added Thai-American Tyler Lamb from the defeat to Singapore in 2015.
Lamb scored 16 points, but it was the contributions of Kannut Samerjai (20 points) and Darongpan Apiromvilaichai (15 points, 4 steals) that helped to push Thailand past Singapore to a podium finish.
Russel Low, who entered the game as Singapore’s top scorer in the competition, struggled with his shot. He shot just 33 per cent from the field and scored only six points.
Larry Liew, who led the 2015 bronze medal playoff game against Thailand with 18 points, had just six points on 2-of-12 shooting.
The only two players in double figures for Singapore were Delvin Goh, who had 11 rebounds too, and Ng Hanbin, who poured in 12 points off the bench, including two three-pointers.
As a team, Singapore shot only 32 per cent. They also turned the ball over 22 times, five more than Thailand. That translated into 16 points for the Thailand, compared to just six for Singapore.
Close game
Despite the 10-point gap, the game was much closer than the scoreline suggested.
The first quarter ended 12-10 in Thailand’s favour, while the lead exchanged hands a couple of times in the second before Thailand ended it with a 10-3 scoring run to take a seven-point lead.
But Singapore outscored Thailand 15-11 in the third to come within three points.
In the fourth quarter, Singapore never really threatened to close that gap. They got into foul trouble throughout, and struggled to create clean looks at the basket.
However, they did trail by just six points with just 4 minutes 38 seconds left in the game.
But in the very next possession, Apiromvilaichai sank a three-pointer to spark a 10-2 scoring run for the Thais, putting the game out of reach for Singapore for good.
Arsego is of the opinion that when Singapore are playing their best, they rank anywhere from the fourth best team to the second best team in the region.
“On the days that mattered, we have to play our best. One day (Friday, against Philippines) we did well until last five minutes. Today, we were a bit off and not consistent enough,” Arsego said.
“We scored a few points here and there, but couldn’t go on a run. That was the difficulty today,” said Arsego.
Still, Arsego was proud of the team, whose lineup included some youngsters playing prominently throughout the competition, such as Lyon Chia (20), Lim Junyuan, (19) and Lavin Raj (17).
Describing his team’s performances over the course of the competition, Arsego said, “The locker room doesn’t feel good now. But I assured them that they won the respect of everyone in the region. Everyone now know that if they play against Singapore, they will have to bring their best or we might just give them trouble.”
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