Getting a huge lift from its locals, San Miguel Beer-Alab Pilipinas turned back Saigon Heat, 96-85, on Saturday night to advance to the semifinals of the Asean Basketball League (ABL) at CIS Arena in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.
While world imports Renaldo Balkman and Justin Brownlee delivered as expected, Alab drew solid performances from Pao Javelona, Ray Parks and Josh Urbiztondo as the Filipino club arranged a best-of-three semifinal clash with Hong Kong’s Eastern starting Wednesday in Wan Chai.
Heritage import Lawrence Domingo matched Balkman’s output with 21 points in his best game yet for Alab, while Brownlee added 18 points and grabbed 13 rebounds.
Javelona, the former National U standout who won a UAAP title in 2004, fired 11 points, including three treys in the first period to set the tone for Alab, before Urbiztondo, hit a couple of late treys that finished off the Heat, who lost all four meetings with Alab this season.
Parks, the reigning local Most Valuable Player, hit just 4-of-14 and finished with 10 points.
The scores:
SAN MIGUEL-ALAB PH 96— Balkman 21, Domingo 21, Brownlee 18, Javelona 11, Parks 10, Raymundo 6, Urbiztondo 6, Hontiveros 3, Celiz 0, Sumalinog 0.
SAIGON 85—Scott 22, Esho 20, Morgan 17, Arnold 14, S. Nguyen 6, Williams 6, H. Nguyen 0, To QT 0.
Quarters: 28-27, 46-42, 73-59, 96-85