San Miguel Alab Pilipinas are skidding in the worst possible time.
In their penultimate game before the ABL Season 9 playoffs, the short-handed defending champions suffered their first home loss of the season, 74-88, to the Formosa Dreamers, Sunday evening at the Sta. Rosa Sports Complex in Laguna.
This was Alab’s first loss at home and their third in a row, as the Philippine team dropped to second place in the standings with an 18-7 record. On the other hand, Formosa not only took pole position with an 18-6 slate; they will also hold the tiebreaker advantage over Alab as they won the regular season series, 3-1.
Alab entered the contest with just 10 healthy bodies as Renaldo Balkman (concussion), Lawrence Domingo (slight right MCL tear), and Brandon Rosser (right knee) were all out of the contest. However, the home team ended the contest with just nine men after a scuffle with 2:30 left in the game.
With Formosa already holding a 14-point lead, Malcolm Miller easily grabbed a rebound over Josh Urbiztondo. Urbiztondo, who is seven inches shorter than Miller, did not take too kindly to it, body bumping Miller.
As the two figured in a word war, Caelan Tiongson decided to defend his teammate, shoving Miller to the stands. Thankfully, the security inside the building arrived before things got out of hand.
It resulted in a technical foul for both Miller and Urbiztondo, and the ejection of the former and Tiongson.
However, the damage had already been done.
The San Miguel-backed squad fought valiantly in the game, even gaining a 42-40 edge early in the third canto. But the troika of Miller, Will Artino, and Tevin Glass were unstoppable afterwards, towing Formosa to a 21-4 surge and never looked back.
Bobby Ray Parks, Jr. ended up with 24 points, seven rebounds, and five assists. PJ Ramos had 22 points and nine boards but committed nine errors.
Before being ejected, Miller was already flirting with a triple-double with 27 points, eight rebounds, and eight assists. Artino tallied a double-double with 23 points and 10 rebounds, while Glass had 23 markers.
Alab head to Vietnam on March 24 to take on the Saigon Heat in their final game of the round.
The Scores:
Formosa 88 — Miller 26, Artino 23, Glass 23, YC Wu 4, Tien 3, SW Wu 3, Cheng 2, Tsai 2, Chien 1, Lee 0, Chen 0, Chai 0.
San Miguel Alab 74 — Parks 24, Ramos 22, Tiongson 8, Sumalinog 7, Urbiztondo 5, Javelona 2, Rivero 2, Alvano 2, Torres 2, Alabanza 0.
Quarterscores: 18-21, 38-35, 61-48, 88-74.
