Struggling to close out the match, Alab Pilipinas bowed to a gutsy Saigon Heat, 78-74, in the 2016-17 ASEAN Basketball League, Sunday evening at the CIS Stadium in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
The loss serves as Alab’s second defeat in a row, a streak that dates back to their loss against the Wesports Malaysia Dragons a week ago. They now sport an 8-6 win-loss slate.
World Import Sampson Carter paced Alab with a double-double outing, scoring 20 markers on 8-of-14 shooting along with 11 rebounds. A misfiring Ray Parks, Jr. backed him up with 14 markers despite going 4-of-17 from the floor. He also had eight boards and six dimes.
The Philippine contingent even led by five, 58-53, early in the payoff period, but Saigon made a comeback behind Moses Morgan and Lenny Daniel to regain the lead, 59-58, with 7:44 to go. From there, both squads engaged in a shootout, which saw three lead changes.
Baskets by Hughes lifted Alab to a 65-62 advantage, but that proved to be their last taste of the lead as Morgan, Daniel, and Jordan Enriquez anchored Heat’s 10-0 run to give Saigon the upper hand once more, 72-65, with 1:48 remaining.
Alab tried to stage one last return after closing in by three, 75-72, as Val Acuña nailed a triple off an inbound with less than 26 ticks to go. They then played the fouling game, but David Viet Arnold and Stefan Tu Nguyen nailed their charities to arrest the hijack attempt, 78-72, enough to assure the win.
James Hughes and Val Acuña each produced 11 markers, with Hughes adding 11 boards into his personal statline. Acuña’s output were spiked by three triples.
Saigon’s World Imports were their linchpins on offense in the victory, with Daniel leading all scorers with 24 markers on an excellent 9-of-11 shooting along with 15 boards and two blocks. Morgan supplied 20 by going 4-of-7 from deep, while Henriquez chipped in 13 points and 13 rebounds.
It was indeed a bad shooting night for Alab, who hit just 27 of their 79 attempts — with 8-of-28 coming from beyond the arc. However, they managed to out-rebound the Heat, 48-40, and their bench produced better, 27-8.
Both squads will face for the fourth and final time in the regular season on March 3, Friday, 7:30 in the evening, still at the Heat’s home turf.
The Scores:
Saigon Heat (78) – Daniel 24, Morgan 20, Henriquez 13, Arnold 7, Nguyen H. 6, Nguyen T. 6, Nguyen V. 2.
Alab Pilipinas (74) – Carter 20, Parks, Jr. 14, Hughes 11, Acuña 11, Cawaling 5, Celiz 5, Hubalde 4, Domingo 2, Gavieres 2, Knuttel 0, Fortuna 0.
Quarterscores: 22-13, 37-26, 53-53, 78-74.
