Alab Pilipinas halts late Singapore Slingers comeback

MANILA, Philippines – It will be a merry Christmas for the San Miguel Alab Pilipinas as they dropped the Singapore Slingers, 77-71, at the Caloocan Sports Complex on Sunday, December 23.

Alab remains the only undefeated team in the ASEAN Basketball League with a clean 4-0 slate, while the Slingers dropped from 3rd to 6th place at 5-3.

PJ Ramos led the way with a monstrous 26-point, 17-rebound double-double. Reigning Defensive Player of the Year Renaldo Balkman had a nice dub-dub of his own with 20 markers and 16 boards. 

After leading by as many as 18 points in the 3rd quarter, the home team saw their advantage cut to 5, 62-57, after a Delvin Goh jumper to open the 4th for the visiting Singapore squad.

But Alab slowly but surely rose back to an 11-point lead, 74-63, after an and-one layup by Ramos with 2:29 left in regulation.

Slingers import John Fields made it a 4-point game, 71-75, with 25 seconds remaining after a huge three. But the Singaporean side inexplicably took too long to intentionally foul and send Alab to the penalty. They finally fouled Ray Parks Jr with 1.4 seconds remaining and the reigning two-time Local MVP calmly sank his charities to put the game away for good.

Parks chipped in 18 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals, and a crucial block in the final seconds as the Slingers were trying to mount a last-gasp comeback.

The Scores:

Alab Pilipinas 77 – Ramos 26, Balkman 20, Parks 18, Tiongson 7, Alvano 4, Rosser 2, Domingo 0, Urbiztondo 0, Javelona 0.

Singapore Slingers 71 – Fields 35, Young 17, Alexander 10, Goh 6, Ng 3, Lim 0, Low 0.

Quarters: 22-18, 43-31, 62-55, 77-71.

– Rappler.com