Alab Pilipinas head coach Jimmy Alapag. INQUIRER PHOTO/TRISTAN TAMAYO
Sam Deguara bounced back from a sub-par showing in the loss to the Kuala Lumpur Dragons by leading Alab with 23 points, while Nick King and Lawrence Domingo also stepped up for the Filipino ballclub, which kept second spot with a 10-6 record.
Alab played with only two imports as it continued to miss Justin Brownlee who has yet to arrive in Manila even with the team already booking his flight from the United States.
Brownlee is more than a month removed from leading Barangay Ginebra to the title in the PBA Governors’ Cup.
But unlike the 80-92 defeat to the Dragons last Wednesday, Alab got off to a strong start against the worst team in the league.
King also grabbed a team high 15 rebounds while Jason Brickman had 10 points and 10 assists for Alab, which led by as many as 24 points in the first half.
Saigon drew 36 points from import Sam
Thompson, who struggled to get support from fellow reinforcements Malcolm White and Tyshawn Taylor. White finished with 13 points while Taylor added seven.
The Scores:
SAN MIGUEL ALAB PILIPINAS 99 – Deguara 23, King 20, Domingo 18, Brickman 10, Vigil 8, Ganuelas-Rosser 8, Heading 7, Rangel 5.
SAIGON HEAT 79 — Thompson 36, Tran 18, White 13, Taylor 7, Q. Nguyen 3, Dierker 2, Young 0, Dinh 0, Waale 0, T. Nguyen 0.
Quarters: 25-17, 56-36, 75-56, 99-79.