After their 27-point destruction of the CLS Knights Indonesia last December 9, to kick off their title defense bid in the 9th ASEAN Basketball League, the last two games have been challenging for San Miguel Alab Pilipinas.
A week after that win, the Knights and Alab figured in a rematch. But it was no cakewalk for the Filipinos, as they needed extra time before walking away from GOR Basket Kertajaya in Surabaya with the 88-80 win.
Five days after that, Alab saw itself in yet another tight contest – this time with Taiwanese club Formosa Dreamers, who have been a revelation so far in this season after starting the tourney with six victories in as many games.
No thanks to Formosa’s hot shooting, Alab went down 5-14 at the start, and went down by nine again in the second. But their end-game wits were on full display as they finished the game with a 21-3 blitz to bag the 86-72 win.
“I felt like tonight was a great early season test for us,” said head coach Jimmy Alapag moments after the match at Santa Rosa, Laguna. “Formosa’s been off and running from the start. They’ve been playing really well.
“I felt like for the most part of the game we were trying to find our way. It was just one of those type of games where we have to just keep pushing, and I think our defense kept us in the game,” added the second-year chief tactician.
“Big win tonight for our guys.“
Alapag tipped his hat not just to his main guys but also to his bench men such as Lawrence Domingo, Brandon Rosser, Pao Javelona, and Josh Urbiztondo, for providing the energy that also kept them at-par with Formosa.
Domingo and Javelona – who finished with 11 points – were part of the five that made the scintillating finish.
“I think our bench played great tonight. Their energy – you know, Pao, Josh came in and hit shots; Brandon and Lo were great grabbing rebounds just with their energy. And I think they bought our starters enough time to finish the game,” Alapag expressed.
“Ethan and Ray [Parks Jr.] had big plays, and of course Balk (Renaldo Balkman) and PJ [Ramos] and Caelan [Tiongson].”
With Friday night’s triumph, the third-year ball club has solidified its hold of the top spot of the team standings with a 3-0 record. But although he’s happy with their progress, Alapag said that the season is still early, and it will be a long journey ahead.
“It’s still… Layo pa.
“There’s still twenty-three more games to go. I’m happy with our start but there’s still a lot of work to do. We’ll keep working and keep doing our best to improve and prepare for Sunday [versus Singapore in Caloocan],” he said.
