ABL: Alab Pilipinas survives Chong Son in OT

Photo by Tristan Tamayo/ INQUIRER.net

Tanduay Alab Pilipinas bucked gaffe late in regulation and scored a 94-91 overtime squeaker over Chong Son Kung Fu Wednesday in the 2018 ASEAN Basketball League at Sta. Rosa Multi-purpose Complex.

The home team needed huge defensive stops, with Renaldo Balkman securing a huge deflection of Kamiran Sidikejiang’s pass in the clutch to deny the visitors a chance to score before Justin Brownlee sealed the three-point win.

Reigning ABL Local MVP Bobby Ray Parks had his best game of the season, finishing with 31 points on 11-for-18 shooting clip, on top of six rebounds and two assists while handling bulk of the defensive load guarding Chong Son Heritage import Mikh McKinney.

Brownlee also overcame his woeful 7-of-27 shooting night and wound up with 20 markers and 11 rebounds, while Balkman poured five of his 20 points in the extra period, while also hauling down 16 boards and six blocks.

Josh Urbiztondo was instrumental in Alab’s late fightback from 11 points down, catching fire in the fourth period as he drained three consecutive treys to put his side up, 82-80 with 1:35 left in regulation.

However, it was his errant pass to Brownlee in the final 15 seconds that allowed the Chinese club to stay alive as Justin Howard tied the game at 84. Brownlee missed the desperation three as the game went to overtime.

It was only the second win at home for Alab as it improved to 7-4.

Howard led Chong Son with 25 points and 18 rebounds, while Fil-Am MicKinney also got 25 markers, nine assists, and six boards in his first game in Philippine soil.

The Kung Fu suffered only their second loss and fell to 6-2.

The Scores:

TANDUAY ALAB PILIPINAS 94 – Parks 31, Brownlee 20, Balkman 20, Urbiztondo 9, Domingo 8, Maierhofer 6, Celiz 0, Hontiveros 0, Javelona 0.

CHONG SON KUNG FU 91 – McKinney 25, Howard 25, Tucker 24, Tiongson 11, Kamiran 6, Liu 0, He 0, Zhao 0, Luo 0.

Quarters: 18-24, 39-47, 62-65, 84-84, 94-91.