San Miguel Alab Pilipinas bucked the absence of the suspended PJ Ramos and completed a season sweep of the Wolf Warriors, 108-81, last Sunday night in the Asean Basketball League Season 9 at Santa Rosa Multi-Purpose Complex in Santa Rosa, Laguna.
With the 7-foot-3 Ramos serving a one-game ban after incurring his fifth technical foul of the season in the duel with the Warriors last Friday in Zhuhai, Alab drew a career-best performance from Brandon Rosser, who finished with 18 points.
Renaldo Balkman tossed in 20 points that went with nine assists and six rebounds as Alab improved its league-leading record to 15-3, including a perfect 11-0 at home.
The victory augurs well for the Filipino ball club as it braces for what coach Jimmy Alapag described as the toughest stretch of their season starting on Saturday against Thailand’s Mono Vampire, which now has former Star Hotshots import Romeo Travis.
“I think this was a great game in terms of giving us momentum,” said Alapag, whose team has already sealed a playoff berth.
“I think it’s great preparation for our team for the playoffs, and we’ll make sure that we’ll bring this type of effort against Mono on Saturday.”
Alab actually learned about Ramos’ suspension only last Saturday night, much to the surprise of Alapag, who will seek clarification from the league on its decision.
“We found out Saturday night and I don’t agree with it,” he said. “I felt the last game was a questionable technical and if you look back at our game against Formosa, those two are questionable because he took a shot in the face right in front of the referee.”
Alab took control in the second period where it nailed eight triples as Caelan Tiongson caught fire with 14 points, including 4-of-7 from beyond the arc.