By JONAS TERRADO
Game Today (OCBC Arena)
4 p.m. – Singapore vs Alab PH
SINGAPORE – Vengeance will be the battlecry of Alab Pilipinas today when it battles the Singapore Slingers in the ASEAN Basketball League at the OCBC Arena here.
Buoyed by back-to-back home victories against the Kaohsiung Truth, Alab would like nothing less than to pull out a victory over the Slingers in their 4 p.m. match, the Philippine team’s first game outside of the country.
Coach Mac Cuan felt his team lost a great opportunity last Nov. 27 when Alab blew a 10-point third quarter lead that allowed the Slingers to emerge victorious, 71-66, at the Alonte Sports Arena in Biñan, Laguna.
“I want to win really bad,” Cuan said after the team arrived in Kuala Lumpur for a brief layover. “I felt they took something away from us, I felt we could have won that game. It just so happened that Singapore was the better team.”
Alab did make up for that loss after beating Kaohsiung twice – the first via a 91-82 decision last Dec. 4 at the Baliwag Star Arena in Bulacan and 93-87 exactly a week ago at the Olivarez Sports Center in Parañaque City.
In the last game, Alab superstar Bobby Ray Parks torched the Truth for 41 points to set a new ABL record for most points scored by a local player, while falling four shy of tying the league mark of 45, held by Singapore import Justin Howard.
Expected to be a marked man, Parks said that it will take not just him to even matters with the Slingers.
“Kung kaya lang namin laruin yung laro namin sa past few games then we’re in good shape. It’s more of trusting one another and at the same time hindi lang naman ako ang kailangan umiskor dito dahil for sure babantayan nila ako,” Parks said after Alab reached the team hotel shortly after 3 p.m.
Hoping to provide Parks with plenty of support are Fil-American Lawrence Domingo, Korean brothers Korean brothers Lee Seung Jun and Lee Dong Jun and Jeric Fortuna.