Alab banners San Miguel for the first time in win over Singapore Slingers

MANILA, Philippines – The newly-renamed San Miguel Alab Pilipinas seamlessly continued its winning ways in the ASEAN Basketball League after downing the Singapore Slingers, 82-69, in their home stadium OCBC Arena, Sunday, February 4.

It was an all-around team effort from both locals and imports, as Josh Urbiztondo and Ray Parks tallied 17 and 16 points, respectively, while Renaldo Balkman and Justin Brownlee dropped 21 and 16.

The Slingers had an early jump in the game against Alab after a three by their top scorer Xavier Alexander put them up 5, 20-15. While the Philippines kept it close after the first quarter, 20-17, Singapore again created separation midway through the second period with a 10-3 run.

It was enough for them to breach a double-digit lead, 30-20, for the first time. However, Alab’s teamwork led by Balkman closed the gap to two, 33-31, off an 11-3 response before another Alexander triple gave Singapore a two-possession lead. Heading into the half, Alab was again able to close out the Slingers and be within striking distance, 38-37.

Then it was the Josh Urbiztondo show once the third quarter started. Locals like Parks and Lawrence Domingo joined in on the fun and kept Singapore comfortably out of reach for much of the period.An Urbiztondo trey with 2:40 left in the third put Alab up by 14, 64-50, which signaled the beginning of the end for the Slingers.

Much of the fourth quarter was back-and-forth buckets between the two teams, highlighted with a 3-point dagger by Balkman to finish off his personal 7-2 run for Alab.

Alexander did most of the heavy lifting for Singapore, finishing with a game-high 32 points on 10/20 shooting while fellow import Christien Charles chipped in 14 points of his own. No local Slinger got to double-digits in scoring.

Alab moves up to 8-4 for the tournament, winning 6 of their last 7 games on the road.

The Scores

San Miguel Alab Pilipinas (82) – Balkman 21, Urbiztondo 17, Brownlee 16, Parks 16, Maierhofer 6, Domingo 4, Raymundo 2, Alabanza 0, Hontiveros 0, Sumalinog 0.

Singapore Slingers (69) – Alexander 32, Charles 14, Liew 7, Goh 6, Mandani 6, Low 4, Ng 0

Quarter Scores: 17-20, 37-38, 66-54, 82-69.

– Rappler.com