Jason Brickman’s free throws with less than a minute to go helped Mono Vampire sweep the Singapore Slingers, 85-82, to complete the 8th ASEAN Basketball League’s semifinal picture, Sunday at the OCBC Arena in Singapore.
The Filipino-American broke the 82-all deadlock with 54 seconds left to play thanks to his perfect shots from the line to help the Thai ball club foil the home team’s comeback from six points down with less than four minutes to go.
Brickman finished with an all-around line of eight points, seven assists, six rebounds, and a steal.
With the quarters sweep of last year’s runners-up, Mono has arranged a semis duel with top-ranked team Chong Son Kung Fu. Their best-of-three affair will commence on April 11, Wednesday, at the Nanhai Gymnasium in China.
Mono already had a 79-73 lead with 3:34 remaining in the payoff period courtesy of Paul Zamar’s triple, but the Slingers countered with a 9-3 run — ended by Filipino-Canadian AJ Mandani’s trey — to tie things up at 82 with 1:08 on the clock.
Mandani finished with 11 points, three rebounds, three steals, and two assists.
Zamar had the chance to give Mono the lead, but his open triple from the top of the key with 1:01 to go missed. Mono though was able to grab the miss and kicked it out to Brickman, who then drove hard and got a foul.
Zamar, Game One’s hero, produced 16 points and five boards.
From there, Brickman’s magic took place. World Import Xavier Alexander tried to tie the game again, but his lay-up off a drive with 40 seconds on the clock did not hit its’ target.
The Slingers were then reduced to playing the fouling game afterwards. Mike Singletary split his free throws with six ticks left, and Alexander’s missed trey on the other end were all enough to seal the semis-clinching win for Mono.
Singletary led Mono with 29 points, six rebounds, and four assists and the towering Sam Deguara supplied 15 markers, 17 caroms, amd a team-best five blocks.
Offensive-minded Thai guard Chitchai Ananti had 14 points.
Alexander powered the Singaporean ball club with 25 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists. Fellow World Import Chris Charles made 20 points, six boards, four dimes, and four steals, while local Delvin Goh chipped in 12 and eight.
