Playing short-handed, Alab Pilipinas suffered another crushing loss at the hands of Malaysia, this time an 80-92 defeat, Wednesday evening at the MABA Stadium.
A flat start once again doomed Alab, falling behind 9-20 early. Things would not get any better for the Philippine-based club, as a 15-4 blast by Malaysia to start the second frame extended the deficit to 16-34.
The Dragons’ lead would go to as high as 27 points, 88-61, midway through the final frame.
Alab’s defense was porous all throughout the game. It allowed the Dragons to shoot a blistering 51-percent from the field, 63-percent from downtown. In contrast, Alab shot just 43-percent.
Alab fell to 9-6, just half-a-game ahead of Formosa for the second spot in the 2019-20 ABL Season. Kuala Lumpur rose to 8-7 to remain at fifth.
Will Artino burned Alab in the contest, finishing with 29 points and 10 rebounds. Meanwhile, Terrel David had 26 points built on six triples to go along with 10 assists.
The reason for Justin Brownlee’s absence has yet to be known as of publishing.
Nick King led Alab with 28 points but committed a game-high four turnovers. Sam Deguara was foul-plagued all game long, finishing with just four points in 14 minutes of action.
Jordan Heading was the sole bright spot for Alab with 26 points on 9-of-15 shooting with six boards.
Alab will meet Malaysia once again on Tuesday, March 10 in Laguna. But up next for Alab first is the Saigon Heat, also in Laguna.
The Scores:
San Miguel Alab 80 — King 28, Heading 26, Domingo 6, Caracut 5, Brickman 4, Deguara 4, Vigil 3, Gray 2, Ganuelas-Rosser 2, Rangel 0.
Malaysia 92 — Artino 29, Davis 26, Bell 11, Lepichev 11, Ting 7, Chin 4, Tem 3, Loh 1, Wong 0, Tan 0.
Quarterscores: 12-23, 32-46, 55-77, 80-92.
