Alapag says Brownlee’s interest is ‘huge plus’ for Alab title quest

San Miguel Alab Pilipinas coach Jimmy Alapag welcomed standout reinforcement Justin Brownlee’s interest in returning for another tour of duty in the Asean Basketball League, but insists his team is fully focused on a tough stretch of matches in the next 10 days.

After Alab’s gutsy 77-76 victory on the road against Hong Kong Eastern last Thursday night for its sixth win in nine games, Alapag said they are taking a wait-and-see approach with Brownlee, who is fresh off leading Barangay Ginebra to the PBA Governor’s Cup crown last week.

Brownlee and Renaldo Balkman powered Alab Pilipinas to the ABL title in 2018.

“Justin is obviously an incredible player,” said Alapag, whose team tangles with league-leader Mono Vampire on Sunday at Caloocan Sports Complex.

“We won a championship with him two years ago and he’s also coming off a championship in the PBA and a really tough four to five months so he is going to need a short break. Once he gets that break we will see what happens, but knowing that he’s interested is a huge plus for us.”

Alab paraded a new import in Prince Williams against Eastern with the former G-League player producing 14 points, six rebounds and four assists in his first game after replacing Khalif Wyatt.

Nick King led Alab with 24 points, including the go-ahead basket with 65 ticks left, while Jeremiah Gray notched 11 points and blocked three shots, including a potential game-winning shot from Jon Siu with four seconds remaining.