Game Friday
(Olivarez Sports Center,
Parañaque City)
8 p.m. – Alab Pilipinas vs Saigon
Alab Pilipinas was sent crashing back to earth after suffering a 93-80 loss to the Hong Kong Eastern Long Lions on Sunday in the ASEAN Basketball League at the Southorn Stadium in Hong Kong.
The Filipino cagers simply had no answers for the duo of American Marcus Elliott and Thai-American Tyler Lamb and trailed by 29 points at one point in the third quarter before making the result a bit respectable in the end.
Elliott showed why he is the league’s top scorer at 25.6 points per game, sizzled for 21 of his game-high 29 points in the first half while Lamb fired five of Hong Kong’s 12 triples on his way to 23 points.
American center Patrick Sullivan added 14 points, eight rebounds and three steals, local guard Chan Siu Wing got 11 points while heritage import Steven Guinchard produced 10 points for the Eastern Long Lions, who moved to second place with a 6-2 record.
“We got our asses kicked, just plain and simple,” said Alab Pilipinas coach Mac Cuan. “We can’t defend anybody, we can’t make an open shot. We just lost the game, they were the better team.”
Ray Parks Jr. scored 23 points but Alab dropped to third place at 5-3, losing after winning its last three games to open 2017. American center James Hughes had 19 points and 16 rebounds but his best performance since joining the team went for naught.
What hurt Alab the most was its 21 turnovers which Hong Kong converted into 22 points. Alab had three straight errors to open the second and already behind 24-16.
Elliott also waxed hot, particularly from long range, helping Hong Kong take a 55-37 halftime lead, a margin that proved to be difficult for Alab to overcome.
“Maybe it’s just somebody waking us up that maybe the three-game winning streak got into our heads,” said Cuan. “I believe that something happens for a reason, and maybe this happened para sabihin na masyado na kayong kumpiyansa na akala niyo magaling na kayo, but you’re not.”