Fired up after their loss to NS Matrix Malaysia, the Singapore Slingers came out swinging in the 2023 Asean Basketball League Invitational on Wednesday to thrash Louvre Surabaya 138-83 for one of the biggest victories in the league’s history.

Defensive lapses had proved costly in their 88-79 defeat by their Causeway rivals on Monday. The Slingers were not about to let that happen again as they outplayed the hosts to take their record in Batam to 3-1.

Captain Xavier Alexander, who had 25 points, was pleased with the team’s response, saying: “It’s basketball and losses happen. We sat in the locker room after the game and discussed what we all could’ve done better, then we learnt from it and moved on.

“It’s very important to play like this coming back from a loss and the right way to be is to forget about that last game, win or loss...

“We’re going to continue to try to build on our success... and learn from the good and bad. I’m so happy all the local guys got to play, it’s a huge confidence booster for them.”

While coach Neo Beng Siang did not achieve his goal of winning all four matches in Batam, he was pleased to see his team’s fighting spirit. He said: “I gave them a bit of pressure and told them that today is a must-win game, so we have to make sure everybody follows the plan.

“We didn’t do anything special to prepare. Everyone came out with the right attitude, stayed focused on defence and ran the floor so they were pretty confident in what they were doing.

“We need to maintain and keep improving on this style of running games.”

While Surabaya drew first blood with a Marcus Hammonds three-pointer, they quickly lost their lead after Kentrell Barkley and Chanceler Gettys scored two quick baskets to kick-start the Slingers’ domination.

The Singapore side thoroughly outplayed the hosts, converting 68 per cent of their field goal attempts, compared to Surabaya’s 30 per cent.

The visitors also executed smooth transitions on the counter to establish a commanding 38-16 lead after the first quarter.

They carried their momentum into the second quarter, maintaining a tight defence while Surabaya struggled to find the basket.

Singaporean Jackson Mah was on fire, scoring all his four treys, while Gettys also positioned himself well under the basket.

The American niftily sidestepped his opponents to score 18 points to help the Slingers extend their lead to 71-38 at half-time.

Their well-executed offence gave them a comfortable 114-61 lead going into the final period as Neo fielded an all-local line-up in the last seven minutes.

Despite the dominant performance, Neo noted that play had turned scrappy as the clock ran down.

He added: “The (local players) played decent but we still need to improve on a lot of things.

“In the end, we allowed the opponents to score 83 points and that’s a big number. If we want to keep winning, we need to stop them from scoring above 70.”

Surabaya’s Hammonds finished with a game-high 36 points, but that was not enough with Jamarr Johnson (24) his only teammate in double digits.

In contrast, the Slingers had five players who did so, with Barkley (24 points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists) notching his first triple-double for the Slingers and Gettys (29 points, 12 rebounds) getting a double-double.

Mah was the highest-scoring local with 22 points, followed by Delvin Goh with 16.

Mah, 19, said: “We really locked in on our defence and ran our offence well. After Monday’s loss, we really learnt a lesson and started to play as a team. Now we’re looking forward to the next stops (in Malaysia and Vietnam) and getting the wins.

“It feels good that I can play with the Slingers at a young age and I hope I can teach the next generation some of the things I’ve learnt here.”

The ABL next moves to Kuala Lumpur from Feb 3 to 8 and the final leg will be in Ho Chi Minh City before the semi-finals.