Alab Pilipinas’ Jeremiah Gray. INQUIRER PHOTO/TRISTAN TAMAYO
Jeremiah Gray came up with big plays down the stretch as San Miguel Alab Pilipinas bounced back with a 101-96 triumph over the Taipei Fubon Braves Tuesday in ABL Season 10 at Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan.
Gray finished with 17 points, including a big trey with 58 seconds remaining to extend Alab’s lead to five points.
He also had two huge blocks on Fubon import OJ Mayo in the final seconds, helping preserve the win for Alab, which improved to 5-2 for solo second in the 10-team league.
“I thought our energy was so much better compared to the last game (against Macau),” said Alab coach Jimmy Alapag.
Held to just four points in the 93-98 loss to Macau Wolf Warriors last Sunday, Sam Deguara also delivered a strong response with 26 points and 14 rebounds, while Nick King added 22 points, six rebounds and five assists.
Mayo, a former No. 3 pick in the NBA, who played eight seasons with the Memphis Grizzlies, Dallas Mavericks and Milwaukee Bucks, finished with 35 points, while former Ginebra import Chuck Garcia added 27 for the Braves, who saw their two game winning streak snapped. Fubon fell to 6-4.
Alab rallied from eight points down in the final 6:09 of the game with Wyatt, King, Deguara and Gray hitting big shots down the stretch.
The Scores:
SAN MIGUEL ALAB PILIPINAS 101 — Deguara 26, King 22, Wyatt 21, Gray 17, Brickman 5, Caracut 5, Domingo 2, Vigil 2, Ganuelas-Rosser 1, Heading 0.
TAIWAN FUBON BRAVES 96 — Mayo 35, Garcia 27, Esho 13, K. Lin 8, J. Lin 8, Hung 3, M. Lin 2, Tseng 0, Kuo 0, Weir Chern 0, C. Lin 0, Hung Hsing 0.
Quarters: 20-28, 44-44, 67-68, 101-96.