MANILA – San Miguel-Alab Pilipinas survived the late Saigon Heat rally via an 82-75 escape in the 2019-2020 ASEAN Basketball League at the Sta. Rosa Multi-Purpose Sports Complex in Laguna on Feb. 9.
Facing the cellar-dwelling Vietnamese club, Alab Pilipinas still flirted with disaster by witnessing their 23-point edge trimmed to as low as 79-75 with 40 seconds left on free throws by Saigon’s Sam Thompson.
The Philippine representatives, however, restored order with Sam Deguara converting a dunk from a pass by Nick King, followed by a couple of misses by the Heat’s Chris Dierker and Dhan Khoa Tran.
King finished the outing with 25 points – 18 coming from the opening half – to go along with 12 rebounds, five assists and four steals to lead Alab to the second place in the standings with a 9-5 win-loss record.
Deguara had 15 points on 7-of-8 shooting from the field, 12 rebounds, and four steals, while floor general Jeremiah Gray added 12 markers for the Philippine representatives to also complete a bounce back from a 91-63 loss to Malaysia Dragons last week.
Jason Brickman also played well for Alab by dishing out 14 assists to go along with five points and six rebounds.
Thompson led the way with 32 points and 11 rebounds, while Tyshawn Taylor tallied 15 points, six rebounds, and six assists for the Heat to cool down to a league-worst 2-9 card./PN
