MANILA, Philippines – Alab Pilipinas absorbed its first home loss of the season as it bowed to Taiwan’s Formosa Dreamers, 88-74, in a fight-marred ASEAN Basketball League game on Sunday, March 17, at the Sta. Rosa Sports Complex in Laguna. 

Tempers flared at the 2:30 mark of the 4th quarter following a verbal altercation between Alab’s Josh Urbiztondo and Formosa import Malcolm Miller.  

A brawl soon erupted as Alab forward Caelan Tiongson went after Miller and pushed him to the ground as Alab import PJ Ramos also joined the fray. 

Urbiztondo got slapped with a technical foul and Miller with a disqualifying foul as Tiongson and Ramos also got ejected.

With the loss, Alab wound up tied with Formosa with 18 wins but the Filipino defending champions wound up officially yielding the top spot to the Taiwanese. 

Alab, though, has one more regular season game to go and hopes to reclaim the lead on Sunday, March 24 against the Saigon Heat. 

Miller, Tevin Glass and William Artino combined for a total of 73 points to lift the Dreamers past the banged-up Alab, who again missed the services of injured standouts Renaldo Balkman, Law Domingo and Brandon Rosser. 

Ray Parks led the Filipinos with 24 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists while Ramos chipped in 22 points and 9 boards. 

The Scores

Formosa 88 – Miller 26, Artino 24, Glass 23, YC Wu 4, Tien 3, SW Wu 3, Cheng 2, Tsai 2, Chien 1, Lee 0, Chen 0, Chai 0. 

Alab Pilipinas 74 – Parks 24, Ramos 22, Tiongson 8, Sumalinog 7, Urbiztondo 5, Javelona 2, Rivero 2, Alvano 2, Torres 2, Alabanza 0. 

Quarters: 18-21, 38-35, 61-48, 88-74.

 – Rappler.com

After trailing by only one possession at halftime, 35-38, the Dreamers pulled away to a double-digit lead that prevented Alab from recovering. 

– Rappler.com