Photo from ASEAN Basketball League Facebook/Onvisa Thewphaingarm
SINGAPORE—Alab Pilipinas came here seeking vengeance against the Singapore Slingers.
But the Filipino club will return home faced with more questions, after their inconsistent play in the second half led to a 68-71 defeat to the Slingers in the Asean Basketball League (ABL) at OCBC Arena here.
“I felt we took ourselves out of the game,” said forward Lawrence Domingo, who finished with 15 points and a slew of energetic plays that went for naught as Alab dropped their second game in four outings.
“We beat ourselves. We have to get back on the drawing board, focusing on ourselves and moving forward.”
Facing an experienced and cohesive team, Alab, one of three new ABL teams this season, stayed in the thick of the fight, behind Domingo, Ray Parks Jr. and import Lee Dong-jun, before once again losing steam in the final period.
JR Cawaling helped Alab cut the deficit to 65-67 with a lay-up with 55.7 seconds remaining, but Singapore import Xavier Alexander scored on a breakaway dunk with 27.5 ticks remaining after picking up the loose ball off a Parks miss.
Cawaling’s triple pegged the final score.
Parks was held to just 15 points after averaging 35.5 in his last two games.
Alab’s two imports, Korean brothers Lee Dong-jun and Lee Seung-jun, combined for only 20 points on 7-of-25 shooting.
Domingo was guilty of mistakes himself with his aggressiveness getting the best of him in the third period when he was called for a needless foul on Slingers import Xavier Alexander with the shot clock winding down.
Alab will face the Kaohsiung Truth on Jan. 8 next year.