Powered by their import duo of Michael LeBlanc and Kyle Jeffers, the Singapore Slingers pulled away late to beat Satria Muda Britama 87-68 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium and take a precious 1-0 lead in this best of three playoff series in the inaugural ASEAN Basketball League.

Finishing second in the league gave the Slingers crucial home court advantage in this series and now the teams head back to Jakarta with Wednesday night’s game 2 now a must-win for the Indonesian side.

Leblanc and Jeffers finished with 22 and 21 points respectively while both Americans managed to snag a double-double with 10 rebounds each, solidifying their status as one of the league’s more potent 1-2 punch.

Satria Muda’s own import duo of Alex Hartman and Nakiea Miller are formidable in their own right and while they held up their end of the bargain with 21 points for Hartman and 18 points and 13 rebounds for Miller, they received very little support from the locals in their side.

In total contrast, the Slingers had three other players in double digits with the Hong Wei Jian notching 11 markers and Al Vergara and Marcus Ng scoring 10 points each.

The closest that Satria Muda managed to get to Singapore was by tying the game at 31-31 with 1.33 left in the first half. Singapore managed to sneak into the half-time break with a slim 35-31 lead and from then on, it was the Slingers all the way as they cruised to an impressive win.

The Slingers had edged the regular season series winning 2 of the 3 contests between the two sides but perhaps more importantly, the Slingers were the team with momentum on their side.

They had entered the playoffs having won two tough road games to end the regular season beating the Brunei Barracudas and the Thailand Tigers in the space of four days and their confidence was apparent for all to see.

On the flip side, Satria Muda entered the playoffs on the back of 2 consecutive losses including a lackluster home loss to the KL Dragons on the last day of the regular season that allowed the Malaysian outfit to sneak into the playoff picture. The rust was clearly showing for the Indonesians as they rarely troubled the hosts Slingers side.

While Satria Muda tried their best to keep the contest close, the Slingers pulled away in the beginning of the fourth quarter to build up a 22 point lead and coast all the way home to victory.

Attention now shifts to game 2 of this series which will be played in Jakarta on Wednesday night with Singapore looking to close out the series while Satria Muda look to stay alive and return to Singapore for an elimination game three.