Game Sunday
(Stadium 29, Bangkok)
7 p.m. – Mono Vampire vs Alab Pilipinas
Tanduay Alab Pilipinas enters the latter part of a grueling six-game January schedule with plenty of things left to be desired after being given a reality check by the vengeful Singapore Slingers in Wednesday night’s 90-80 home loss in the ASEAN Basketball League at The Arena in San Juan.
Alab was in the thick of things for three quarters but allowed the Slingers to pull away behind ex-PBA guard AJ Mandani, who torched the home side for 11 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter.
Coach Jimmy Alapag was left ruing his team’s lackluster play, a far cry from its hard-fought 89-80 overtime victory over the Slingers Sunday in Singapore that saw imports Justin Brownlee and Renaldo Balkman take charge in the crucial stretch.
“We weren’t as sharp as we’ve been in the last three games,” said Alapag, whose team dropped to sixth place with a 3-4 record while clearing the path for Singapore to climb into fifth at 4-5.
“They played like their loss we gave them the last time was fresh in their minds,” he added. “They made us pay when we turn the ball over, took a bad shot and they got off to a transition and end up making threes.”
Balkman’s 24 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks and 16 points apiece from Brownlee and reigning local Most Valuable Player Ray Parks Jr. were not enough as Alab left a huge crowd disappointed over the outcome.