SMC-Alab Pilipinas eight-game winning streak grinds to a halt
Buoyed by a sellout home crowd at Maba Stadium, Westports Malaysia ended San Miguel-Alab Pilipinas’ streak with a 90-89 squeaker on Sunday in the 2018 Asean Basketball League in Kuala Lumpur.
Joshua Munzon sank the game-winning free throw off a foul by Lawrence Domingo with eight seconds left as the Dragons stopped Alab Pilipinas’ eight-game winning run.
Alab had the last attempt but Dondon Hontiveros misfired on a three-point try from the right corner as time ran out.
Still, it was a valiant effort from San Miguel Alab, which suffered only its second defeat in nine games on the road and fell to third place at 11-5.
Renaldo Balkman carried much of the scoring load with 33 points that went with 19 rebounds, while fellow World Import Justin Brownlee fired 25 markers on top of five rebounds, seven assists and four blocks.
Unfortunately for Alab, fatigue got the better of Brownlee late as he missed two free throws with 31.2 seconds remaining that could have given the lead back to the Filipinos.
Reigning Local Most Valuable Player Bobby Ray Parks Jr. was limited to 10 points and seven rebounds before picking up his fifth foul, 1:49 left to play.
Westports Malaysia improved to 5-10 but is still in danger of missing the playoffs.
World Import Chris Eversley led the Dragons with 36 points and six rebounds before fouling out midway through the payoff period, while Munzon added 19 points.
Kuek Tian Yuan shot 4-of-5 from the three-point zone to wound up with 14 points while Jawhar Purdy had 11 points, six boards and four assists. —RANDOLPH B. LEONGSON, INQUIRER.NET
The scores:
WESTPORTS MALAYSIA 90—Eversley 36, Munzon 19, Kuek 14, Purdy 11, Davis 9, Wong 1, Teo 0.
SAN MIGUEL-ALAB PILIPINAS 89—Balkman 33, Brownlee 25, Parks 10, Domingo 7, Raymundo 6, Urbiztondo 6, Maierhofer 2, Hontiveros 0, Sumalinog 0.
Quarters: 24-26, 44-47, 65-69, 90-89
