ABL: Dragons repeat over Beermen

Photo from aseanbasketballeague.com

MANILA, Philippines—San Miguel still couldn’t figure out Malaysia even in the Beermen’s own homecourt.

The Beermen nearly wiped out a 14-point deficit in the final five minutes but the Westports Malaysia Dragons held on for a 73-70 victory last night and claimed solo second in the Asean Basketball League at the Ynares Sports Arena.

Malaysia’s American import Tiras Wade pumped in a game-high 28 points, the last three on free throws in the dwindling seconds that kept the Dragons up after the Beermen had threatened at 70-68 with only 30 ticks left.

“We were just lucky that we had a cushion in the second half, so we were still ahead even if they made that run,” said Malaysia’s Filipino coach Ariel Vanguardia. “We also utilized the zone [defense] and it worked. It neutralized their inside presence, and luckily, they also weren’t making their shots early.”

The Dragons, who also outlasted the Beermen in overtime, 83-77, in Kuala Lumpur last month, improved to 6-2 behind the league-leading AirAsia Philippine Patriots (6-1)

Dalron Johnson had 22 points to lead the Beermen, who absorbed their first home game loss to slip to third with a 5-3 card.

Malaysian John Ng also stepped up for the Dragons by nailing all four attempts from the field, three from beyond-the-arc, for 12 markers.

The Beermen, who trailed by as many as 20 points, 40-20 at halftime, came close to overhauling a 50-64 deficit in the last five minutes after Aris Dimaunahan’s back-to-back triple sparked a 9-0 spurt.

The scores:
MALAYSIA 73—Wade 28, Ng 12, Williams 11, Cabahug 8, Loh 8, Belasco 3, Batumalai 3, Kwaan 0, Pacana 0, Kuppusamy 0.
SAN MIGUEL 70–Johnson 22, Thomas 16, Avenido 9, Cabatu 7, Dimaunahan 6, Fernandez 5, Gonzales 3, Mangahas 2, Fajardo 0, Ferriols 0, Baguion 0, Rizada 0.
Quarters: 9-13, 40-20. 58-42, 73-70