Alab Pilipinas seeks redemption over the Saigon Heat without new addition Kiefer Ravena tonight when they clash for the second time in five days in the ASEAN Basketball League at the CIS gym in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Ravena won’t be suiting up in Alab’s 7:30 p.m. local time (8:30 p.m. PH time) duel with the Heat as he is still recovering from a hand injury he sustained while playing for Mighty Sports in the Dubai Invitational Basketball Championship last week.
With the former Ateneo standout out of action, Alab will have to settle with its regular lineup that struggled in Sunday’s 78-74 loss at the same venue.
Alab erased a double-digit deficit behind imports Sampson Carter and James Hughes and Ray Parks Jr. but couldn’t stop Saigon’s Thai-American import Moses Morgan and American reinforcement Lenny Daniel.
It was the second straight time that Alab lost to the Vietnamese side, the first was a stunning 72-65 defeat in Davao City last Feb. 5 when the Filipinos squandered a 13-point lead entering the fourth.
Alab remains in third place with an 8-6 record, but is losing ground on the Hong Kong Eastern Long Lions (11-2) and the Singapore Slingers (11-5) in the race for the top two spots and the homecourt advantage in the semis, while giving the Heat (5-8) a slim hope of moving to third.
“I’ve been stressing since the start, all I want is consistent effort,” Alab coach Mac Cuan said in an interview with the ABL’s official website.