Once again, Jeremiah Gray saved San Miguel Alab Pilipinas as his defensive stand against Hong Kong Eastern lifted his side to a 77-76 triumph in the 2019-20 ABL Season, Thursday evening at Southorn Stadium.
The 6-foot-4 guard swatted away Jon Siu’s potential game-winner — a triple from the left corner — to avert a 19-point meltdown by the Philippine-based club team.
“We had a late turnover but our defense held up late. Jeremiah Gray made a huge effort to get the blocked shot,” said Alab head coach Jimmy Alapag.
Gray eventually tallied 11 points, five rebounds, five assists, and three huge blocks.
Alab led by as much as 19 points, 49-30, early in the third frame. But Hong Kong then fought back with a 30-point third quarter outing.
Hong Kong turned things around, even leading by three points, 76-73, with 1:47 after a couple of Brandis Raley-Ross free throws. Sam Deguara answered right back, though, cutting the lead to one before Nick King scored the go-ahead lay-up with 1:05 left.
“It was a playoff-type game. Hong Kong gets great crowd support,” he added.
King led Alab with 24 points, while debuting import Prince William added 14 points, six rebounds, and four assists.
Alab raised their slate to 6-3.
Raley-Ross had 33 points, 11 rebounds, and eight assists for Hong Kong, which fell to 3-5.
Up next for Alab is Mono Vampire on Sunday at the Caloocan Sports Center.
The Scores:
Alab Pilipinas 77 – King 24, Williams 14, Deguara 12, Gray 11, Vigil 5, Heading 3, Brickman 2, Domingo 2, Rosser 2, Caracut 0.
Hong Kong 76 – Raley-Ross 33, Costner 19, Holyfield 13, Siu 8, Guinchard 2, Ng 1, Xu 0.
Quarterscores: 23-14, 45-30, 63-60, 77-76.
