Alab Pilipinas draws first blood in quarterfinals series with Saigon Heat

MANILA, Philippines – San Miguel Alab Pilipinas drew first blood against Saigon Heat at home, 110-100, in Game 1 of their best-of-3 quarterfinals series at the FilOil Flying V Centre in San Juan, Sunday, April 1.

Tonight marks the first playoff win in Alab’s history, according to ABL’s Twitter account. They nabbed an outright semis berth last year, but ended up getting swept by the Singapore Slingers in two games.

Star imports Renaldo Balkman and Justin Brownlee paced the high-scoring Alab for the first few minutes, giving the team a comfortable 28-17 lead after a 9-0 run. However, Saigon’s own imports led by Maxie Esho refused to give in, getting the Heat as close as 4 points, 46-42, midway through the second. But then Saigon head coach Kyle Julius got tossed from the game just minutes later after losing his cool on a non-call. Meanwhile, the locals held ground on the other end, led by captain Ray Parks, Jr. and Lawrence Domingo with hard drives and pinpoint triples.

At the half, the home team again led by double-digits, 57-47. Balkman was not fooling around on April Fool’s Day, relentlessly crashing the boards in the first 20 minutes with 15 rebounds – 9 offensive – to go with his 11 points.

The Heat fought tooth-and-nail against Alab for the first few minutes of the second half, with Moses Morgan parting waves of defenders with crafty layups. However, Alab caught fire once more in the waning minutes of the period, including the veteran Dondon Hontiveros who extended the lead to 14, 86-70, with a corner triple. John Raymundo piled on two more buckets to end the frame at 90-72.

Parks opened the 4th with a quick layup to break into a 20-point lead, the biggest of the night. However, Esho was also on fire, draining triples left and right to trim their deficit to 12, 103-91. Things got chippy near the end of regulation, but cooler heads prevailed as Alab sealed the deal in front of the happy San Juan crowd.

Parks led Alab in scoring with a full line of 24 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and two steals. Brownlee flirted with a triple-double of 22 points, 11 boards and 8 assists while Balkman added 17 points and a game-high 20 rebounds (11 offensive).

Meanwhile, Esho’s 42 points on 6-of-8 triples (75%) in a full-time 40 minutes were not enough to carry the Heat, who only fielded 6 players. Scott and Williams added 19 apiece while Morgan chipped in 16.

Game 2 is on Saturday, April 7, at the CIS Arena in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

The Scores:

San Miguel Alab Pilipinas (110): Parks 24, Brownlee 22, Domingo 18, Balkman 17, Hontiveros 8, Raymundo 7, Sumalinog 6, Javelona 5, Celiz 3

Saigon Heat (100): Esho 42, Morgan 19, Williams 19, Scott 16, Nguyen, Tua. 3, Arnold 1

Quarter scores: 30-24, 57-47, 90-72, 110-100

– Rappler.com