By Jonas Terrado
Game Today
(Changhua, Taiwan)
3 p.m. – Formosa vs Alab Pilipinas
Seven-foot-five Sam Deguara of Hong Kong Eastern got into foul trouble early and San Miguel-Alab Pilipinas used it to its advantage to score an 87-75 win in the ASEAN Basketball League Friday night at the City of Sta. Rosa Multi-Purpose Complex in Laguna.
Seven-foot-four PJ Ramos set the tone for Alab’s breakaway after Deguara committed three personal fouls in the first three minutes to finish with 31 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists while Ray Parks Jr. fired 24 points on 9-of-17 shooting to give Alab its sixth win in seven games to stay on top of the standings.
The victory allowed coach Jimmy Alapag’s squad to regain its bearing after a stunning 72-71 loss to the Westports Malaysia Dragons two nights ago in Kuala Lumpur.
In that game, Parks had his worst performance of the season as he was held to just five points on 2-of-9 shooting.
But Parks made sure he would atone for his struggles in front of a good-sized home crowd in Alab’s third match of a rigorous stretch of four games in eight days.
Alab will wrap up the grueling stretch when it travels to Changhua, Taiwan to face the Formosa Dreamers today.
Lawrence Domingo was the other double-digit scorer for Alab with 10 points.
Marcus Elliott and O’Darien Bassett scored 20 and 19 points but Deguara’s benching due to fouls had a major effort for Hong Kong which fell to a 7-5 record.
