INQUIRER Sports

MANILA, Philippines--Jason Dixon powered the Philippine Patriots to an 81-69 whipping of Indonesia Satria Muda BritAma Saturday in the Asean Basketball League at the FilOil-Flying V Arena in San Juan.

Dixon, knocking down an array of shots in his best game to date, finished with 23 points on top of 14 rebounds, four assists and a couple of blocks as the Patriots kept the solo lead with a 7-1 record.

?He?s improving every game,? said Patriots coach Louie Alas of the 6-foot-10 Dixon, who posted his fourth straight double-double.

?Dixon was challenged. He did not like what he heard (from Indonesia?s imports), so he really played very hard.?

The Patriots completed a three-game elimination sweep of Satria Muda BritAma to extend their winning roll to six games, the longest streak so far in the six-nation club tournament.

?We started flat, but luckily we regained our bearings,? said Alas. ?We expected them to come out strong. But I knew that we just needed to settle down. Besides, we had a deeper bench.?

The Patriots posted their second blowout victory against Satria Muda BritAma even with the return of Indonesia?s American 6-9 import Nakiea Miller.

Miller failed to suit up last Nov. 21 due to lack of proper documents and the Patriots crushed Satria Muda BritAma, 74-56.
Alex Hartman and Miller combined for 44 points for the third-running Satria Muda BritAma which absorbed its fifth loss in nine outings.
Rob Wainwright pumped in nine of his 15 points from three-point range and grabbed six boards. Brandon Powell, the Patriots? second American import, also collected 12 markers, seven rebounds and five assists.

The Patriots recovered from a 40-43 deficit with a run anchored on Dixon to post their first double-digit lead, 60-48, with a minute left in the the third quarter.

Another 11-4 spurt at the start of the fourth period gave the Patriots their biggest advantage of 18 points at 76-58.

The scores:
PHILIPPINES 81?Dixon 23, Wainwright 15, Powell 12, Alcaraz 9, Ybañez 7, Baclao 6, Acuña 3, Gaco 2, Mirza 2, Espiritu 2, Baguion 0.
INDONESIA 69?Hartman 24, Miller 20, Achmad 10, Sitepu 8, Bajar 7, Sondakh 0, Prihantono 0, R. Gunawan 0, Wijaya 0, G. Gunawan 0.
Quarters: 15-11, 36-30, 65-54, 81-69