Macau Wolf Warriors vs Alab Pilipinas. INQUIRER PHOTO/Tristan Tamayo
MANILA, Philippines— Macau Wolf Warriors put the clamps on the 7-foot-5 Sam Deguara and leaned on Doug Herring’s clutch plays to stun San Miguel Alab Pilipinas, 98-93, Sunday night in the Asean Basketball League Season 10 at Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan.
Hounded by veteran Steve Thomas, Deguara was held to a season-low four points before Herring hit a fadeaway with 1:14 remaining to extend the Wolf Warriors advantage 96-91.
A turnover by Jason Brickman on the next play led to a Tang Zhi Keng basket on the other end as Wolf Warriors avenged their overtime loss to the Filipino club last December and improved to 3-5.
Herring who won an ABL title last season with the CLS Knights tallied 21 points and 10 assists while teammate Julian Boyd who knocked down a triple before Herring’s big shot had 16 points and nine rebounds.
“It’s a good win for our organization after a difficult year last year,” said MWW coach Todd Purves, who once served as consultant to the San Miguel franchise in the PBA. “Herring made some big plays for us and Tang made big hustle plays for us. I though that Steve Thomas made a big difference defensively. It’s tough to defend Big Sam and he was able to do a hell of a job.”
Alab lost for the first time at home this season, falling to 4-2 for solo second behind Mono Vampire of Thailand.
Nick King shot a personal season-best 33 points, while Khalif Wyatt had 15 points, but missed seven of his eight attempts from beyond the arc.
The Scores:
MACAU WOLF WARRIORS 98 — Herring 21, Biyd 21, Cai 15, Ewing 13, Hu 11, Thomas 10, Tang 7, Shentu 0.
SAN MIGUEL ALAB PILIPINAS 93 — King 33, Wyatt 15, Domingo 11, Gray 10, Ganuelas-Rosser 9, Brickman 7, Deguara 4, Vigil 4, Heading 0.
Quarters: 25-19, 47-47, 80-76, 98-93.