Alab Pilipinas received a huge lift from Ray Parks, Jr. to bounce back from their opening loss last week after pouncing Kaohsiung Truth, 91-82, to post their first win in the seventh season of the ASEAN Basketball League Sunday evening at the Baliwag Star Arena in Baliwag, Bulacan.
The former 6-foot-4 NBA D-Leaguer starred once more for the Filipinos, leading Alab with an efficient 30 points on 11 of 20 shooting along with seven boards.
Lawrence Domingue, who was Alab’s sparkplug during the second half with his dominance from point-blank range, tallied 21 points while shooting 75 percent from the field.
“Grabe,” Alab Pilipinas head coach Mac Cuan remarked about Domingue. “Yun naman sinasabi namin sa kanya. We need your hustle and energy, and ginawa niya ngayon. I’m really happy.”
Through their running game, Kaohsiung welcomed the first quarter with an 8-0 run sparked by Carlos Andrade, but Alab came back through the exploits of Parks and JR Cawaling to snatch and taste their first lead, 17-16, with 3:27 remaining. However, Alab failed to sustain momentum due to turnovers, allowing Truth to outscore them 8-4 and take the lead at the end of the first, 24-21.
With Mikee Reyes going on a scoring tear with his jumpers, Kaohsiung went up by as much as ten, 33-23, early in the next frame, but the Filipinos responded with a 13-3 run capped by a Parks trey to tie it at 36-all with 2:10 left. The Truth led 41-39 late in the period, but a split and an and-one conversion by Domingue in the closing seconds sent Alab to a 42-41 lead at the half.
The third canto saw a more composed Alab squad. With everyone clicking on both ends of the floor, the Filipinos stretched the gap to as wide as nine, 61-52, with less than three minutes on the clock. Chris Oliver pulled Truth to within four, 65-61, but back-to-back baskets by Robby Celiz and Paulo Hubalde off the break helped Alab to an eight-point lead, 69-61, to end the frame.
Alab stepped on the gas come the final frame to post their biggest lead of the game at 11, 74-63. From there, Alab went full blast and did not look back, weathering and providing answers for every Kaohsiung comeback. The Taiwanese cagers still made baskets in garbage time, but could not pull off a come-from-behind finish as they lost their third straight, 91-82.
“Ang pinaka-glaring sa akin [tonight] is yung teamwork,” said Alab head coach Mac Cuan after the game. “We moved the ball. We won as a team. We can’t win individually. We need each other to win.”
Kaohsiung were led by Wesley Hsu with 23 points highlighted by five triples. American Derek Hall supplied 18 markers, while Filipino import Mikee Reyes made 14 in his first game with the Truth.
Despite their third loss in a row, Truth head coach Tryston Lawrence saw lots of positives in tonight’s match, which saw them lose by just nine points, a value way different from their average gap of 19.5 points a game.
“[I saw] better effort from them,” said Lawrence post-game. “There were some things that didn’t go our way, but overall, I’m pleased with the way we played. And it’s a good stepping stone for us the next game.”
Alab played better collectively tonight as they dished out 21 assists, a far cry from their six dimes from their previous game against Singapore Slingers last November 27. However, they lost by just a single rebound in the boards department, 42-41.
Alab (1-1) and Kaohsiung (0-3) will face each other once more next Sunday, December 11, at the Olivarez College Gym in Parañaque at 8 PM.
The Scores:
Alab Pilipinas (91) – Parks 30, Domingue 21, Lee S.J. 8, Lee D.J. 8, Acuña 8, Cawaling 5, Hubalde 4, Fortuna 3, Celiz 2, Thiele 2, Gavieres 0, Knuttel 0.
Kaohsiung Truth (82) – Hsu 23, Hall 18, Oliver 17, Reyes 14, Luo 4, Chang 4, Andrade 2, Lin 0.
Quarterscores: 21-24, 42-41, 69-61, 91-82
