MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – San Miguel Alab Pilipinas exerted their dominance over the CLS Knights, 84-67, on Wednesday, March 21, at the Caloocan Sports Complex. 

The visiting team continued their fight to maintain their two-game winning streak as they rallied back from a 20-point deficit in the final frame with a 8-0 run capped by Arif Hidayat’s back-to-back triples. Alab Pilipinas was found to be on the lucky side as there was not enough time for the Knights to take home a win. 

Alab Pilipinas now stands at 13-6 while the eliminated CLS Knights falls to 5-14 in the 8th ASEAN Basketball League. 

Bobby Ray Parks Jr led Alab Pilipinas with 21 points while grabbing 5 rebounds and passing out two assists. 

Alab managed to contain Freddie Lish to two points after he exploded with 29 points in CLS’ win vs Westport Malaysia Dragons and was named the Heritage Import Player of the Week. 

It was Brian Williams who remained consistent for the Knights as he recorded a double-double of 19 points and 18 rebounds. 

The Filipino team was without Rob Celiz and starting point guard Josh Urbiztondo due to injuries.  Paolo Javelona made his first start of the season to fill up the slack. 

Bobby Ray Parks Jr lifted Alab early in the first quarter as he scored 7 points that locked down the Knights to only 5 points in the 4:48 mark. Shane Edwards sparked the Knights’ rally with a dunk to cut the deficit, but the Filipinos still held a double-digit lead. 

As Alab continued to lead in the second quarter punctuated by Renaldo Balkman’s slam in the 4:35 mark, the Knights managed to trim the deficit to single digits, 38-31.

Injury woes continued for Alab as Balkman went down in the last 28.4 seconds of the first half with a sprain on his left ankle. Six seconds later, Javelona made a top-of-key three, but was knocked down and twisted his right ankle. 

In the second half, Javelona continued to start for Alab Pilipinas but Balkman was forced to sit out for the rest of the game. 

Despite missing Balkman’s services, the team broke out in the 3rd quarter as Parks’s and Lawrence Domingo’s efforts stretched the lead early in the second half. Justin Brownlee made a poster dunk over Brian Williams and drained a triple that gave 20-point advantage to Alab Pilipinas in the remaining 3:43 of the 3rd.

Leaving no mercy on the Knights, Dondon Hontiveros buried one from beyond the arc that got the crowd cheering louder than ever with only a minute to go in the 3rd.

The Scores 

Alab (84) – Parks 21, Brownlee 15, Balkman 12, Domingo 7, Sumalinog 7, Javelona 6, Hontiveros 6, Raymundo 6, Alabanza 4, Urbiztondo 0, Celiz 0, Maierhofer 0. 

CLS (67) – Williams 19, Edwards 17, Hidayat 8, Nugroho 6, Jensen 6, Utomo 4, Gemilang 3, Lish 2, Baskoro 2, Wisnu 0, Kurniawan 0, Ardiansyah 0. 

Quarter Scores: 24-12, 44-33, 71-49, 84-67.

– Rappler.com