ABL: Philippine Patriots, San Miguel Beermen face separate foes
MANILA, Philippines—After surviving different tough teams, the two Philippine squads try to stay on a roll in the Asean Basketball League Wednesday night.
Claiming to have regained their focus, the AirAsia Philippine Patriots shoot for back-to-back triumphs against the winless Saigon Heat at 7 p.m. at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig.
Over in Singapore, the San Miguel Beermen go for another road win and a third straight triumph against the host Slingers at 8 p.m. at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
“We expect another tough match up against the imports,” said Patriots coach Glenn Capacio.
The Patriots and the Beermen share third spot at 2-1 behind the unbeaten Westports Malaysia Dragons (3-0) and the Slingers (3-1).
Al Vergara, Ardy Larong, Angel Raymundo and veteran Rob Wainwright provided able support for import Anthony Johnson, who came up with huge numbers in the Patriots’ 86-73 home game victory over the Indonesia Warriors last Saturday.
“The whole game plan was to come out and be aggressive,” said Johnson, who exploded for 33 points, including 15 from beyond the arc, against the Warriors.
“We weren’t the same team during that loss [against San Miguel]. We had no chemistry, we weren’t running the plays and everybody was pointing fingers. Good thing we were able to refocus in practice.”
San Miguel coach Bobby Parks has also been pleased with new American import Doug Thomas, who provided the defensive muscle as Dalron Johnson and Leo Avenido took over the scoring chores in the Beermen’s 68-59 win over the Chang Thailand Slammers.
“I’m very happy with his (Thomas) defense and he’s causing mismatch problems,” Parks said after the Beermen downed the defending champion Slammers in Bangkok last Sunday.
