MANILA— The Philippine Patriots bucked the absence of American reinforcement Anthony Johnson to hack out a thrilling 62-59 victory over the Singapore Slingers Saturday night and grab a share of the lead in the AirAsia Asean Basketball League at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig.
Getting a new lease on his career after hardly making an impact in the local professional league, Junjun Cabatu came through with five straight points in the clutch as the Patriots secured their second straight win to join the Thailand Slammers on top of the six-team regional league.
Johnson, who fired 24 points in the Patriots’ 61-52 win over Brunei last week, missed the game because of a hamstring injury.
“It was a good win,” said Patriots coach Louie Alas. “Our defense held on, especially in the last four possessions. We played much better defensively than the last time out, and our locals stepped up.”
The team co-owned by businessmen Mikee Romero and Tony Boy Cojuangco heads to Brunei next week to seek its third win against the Barracudas.
The last two minutes turned out to be a shootout with Patriots guard Benedict Fernandez and the Slingers’ Filipino import Leo Avenido also hitting treys to set the stage for the thrilling finish.
Then Cabatu threw the knockout punches.
The 6-foot-5 son of former pro Sonny Cabatu first buried a triple with 1:05 remaining to give the Patriots a 60-56 lead.
After Singapore’s Filipino reinforcement Al Vergara sliced the margin to one with a triple on the next play, Cabatu responded with another drive to the basket to restore the three-point cushion with 31 seconds remaining.
“Good thing that when we inserted Junjun in the last three minutes, he was fresh,” said Alas.
Alas, who had rued his squad’s lapses on defense in their first game, was satisfied this time as the Patriots held Singapore imports Marcus Skinner and Kyle Jeffers to just 12 and 10 points, respectively.
Donald Little, the second import of the Patriots, tallied seven points and nine rebounds but committed a game-high 11 turnovers.
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