Game Today
(Olivarez Sports Center, Parañaque City)
8 p.m. – Alab Pilipinas vs Saigon
Alab Pilipinas seeks to regain its winning form after a lackluster performance over the weekend when it plays the Saigon Heat tonight in the ASEAN Basketball League at the Olivarez Sports Center in Parañaque City.
Five days removed from a disappointing 93-80 road loss to the Hong Kong Eastern Long Lions, Alab wants nothing more than to vent its ire on the struggling Heat in front of the home fans in the game set at 8:30 p.m.
The Filipino cagers were stunned by Hong Kong’s first half assault and eventually fell behind by 29 points in the third quarter. Alab also had no answers for the duo of Marcus Elliott and Tyler Lamb, who accounted for more than half of the Eastern Long Lions’ points.
“I just said to the team that we are better than this,” rued Alab Pilipinas coach Mac Cuan after Sunday’s game. “This is not us. We are too passive, we are too relaxed, and I didn’t see the fire.”
Cuan hopes to see more fire from his squad, even if Alab is favored against the Vietnamese team which is at the bottom of the six-team league with a 1-5 record.
Ray Parks Jr. is expected to lead the charge for Alab in his first game in his home city since erupting for 41 points against the Kaohsiung Truth last month.
Alab is also banking on American imports Sampson Carter and James Hughes to raise their games to another level.
Carter’s scoring has gone down since firing 23 against Kaohsiung earlier this month while Hughes’ double-double effort against Hong Kong went for naught after the loss.
Local production, which was instrumental in Alab’s three victories to start 2017, was sorely missed against the Eastern Long Lions. This time, the likes of Jeric Fortuna, Val Acuna and JR Cawaling are eager to redeem themselves in tonight’s game.
Among the players expected to lead Saigon’s upset bid is Joshua Munzon, the Fil-American player out of California State University, Los Angeles.
