MANILA—Despite dropping injury-plagued import Anthony Johnson, the Philippine Patriots expect to stretch their unbeaten run Saturday night in the AirAsia Asean Basketball League.
The Patriots, who won three previous games even without Johnson, shoot for a sixth straight victory against the Brunei Barracudas at8 p.m. at the Brunei Indoor Stadium in Bandar Seri Begawan.
Patriots coach Louie Alas expects his other American reinforcement Donald Little to pick up the slack anew along with locals Warren Ybañez, Egay Billones, Junjun Cabatu and Alan Salangsang.
“We’re still positive,” said Alas. “I’m expecting our locals to play several notches higher and to help neutralize their (Barracudas) talented imports.”
The defending champions are coming off a triumph at home over Indonesia Satria Muda BritAma, 75-69, where Billones, Little and Benedict Fernandez shone in the final stretch.
Johnson missed the match after injuring his hamstring anew a week earlier during the Patriots’ 54-48 tripping of the Chang Thailand Slammers in Bangkok.
“We have to play solid defense from start to finish,” said Alas. “We’ve been playing good defense sporadically. We do well for a span of four minutes, then [our performance] dips.”
The Barracudas, mentored by Filipino coach Bong Ramos, are running fifth in the six-nation tournament with a 1-4 record.
But the Patriots needed an extra period to pull off a thrilling 72-67 triumph in their last meeting as the Barracudas posed a tough challenge with American imports Chris Commons and Chris Garnett, and Filipino reinforcements Chester Tolomia and Bryan Faundo.
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