MANILA, Philippines— With Justin Brownlee still unavailable, San Miguel Alab Pilipinas to a heavy defeat on the road, bowing to the K uala Lumpur Dragons, 80-92, Wednesday night in ABL Season 10 at MABA Stadium.
Brownlee’s absence meant Alab only had two imports for the match in Sam Deguara and Nick King. But even with coach Jimmy Alapag rallying his players to step up in Brownlee’s absence, Alab struggled to get going, dropping its second game to KL and sixth game overall.
“We’re excited to have Justin, but he will only be joining us in Manila for our next game,” said Alapag, without specifying the reason of the celebrated import’s absence.
“This is just an opportunity for our other players to step up,” Alapag added before the game.
Unfortunately for Alab, KL came out firing on all cylinders in the first quarter, building a double digit lead that was extended to 28 points in the second half. Nick King led Alab with 28 points, but 17 came in the final quarter when the outcome was already settled.
The 7-foot-5 Deguara also found it difficult to make his presence felt, tallying only four points.
Alab remained in second spot with a 9-6 record, but dropped two games behind Mono Vampire of Thailand, which earlier scored an 87-77 win over Singapore Slingers at home.
The scores:
KUALA LUMPUR 92 — Artino 29, Davis 26, Bell 11, Lepichev 11, Ting 7, Chin 4, Tem 3, Loh 1, Wong 0, Tan 0, Sim 0
SAN MIGUEL ALAB PILIPINAS 80 — King 28, Heading 26, Domingo 6, Caracut 5, Brickman 4, Deguara 4, Vigil 3, Gray 2, Ganuelas-Rosser 2, Rangel 0
Quarter scores: 23-12, 46-32, 77-55, 92-80