If there’s one player that caused havoc in San Miguel Alab Pilipinas’ Game Two loss to the Mono Vampire, it’s Sam Deguara.
The 7-foot-4 tower made up for his foul-plagued outing back in Game One, producing 30 points and 20 rebounds to help Mono tie the series at 1-1 and to earn momentum heading into Game Three in Thailand this Saturday.
“Deguara really hurt us tonight,” lamented Alab hea coach Jimmy Alapag.
“A 30-20 game in a 40-minute game is a heck of a game.
“I thought they did a great job of finding him. And again, the tempo of the game was to their favor. You know, we allowed him to establish himself in the paint. And again, everytime we did, he made us pay for it,” admitted the PBA legend.
Alapag though also acknowledged the support Deguara had in Mono’s victory, from Mike Singletary, who scored 26 markers with eight rebounds and seven assists; and Jason Brickman, who had 15 points and 11 feeds.
And of course, from Filipino Heritage Import Paul Zamar, who nailed the game-sealing freebies in the final 15.4 seconds that settled the final score. The 31-year-old finished with 12 points, four assists, three rebounds, and three steals.
“Of course, Brickman and Singletary were still there and even Paul Zamar, they all contributed,” said Alapag.
But just like any other close loss, Alapag is taking some positives from it. One of them is Josh Urbiztondo, who has regained his old, Fireball form as he unloaded 14 points spiked by a quartet of three-pointers.
“Josh played great tonight,” praised the first-year head coach. “We needed somebody out there to come out and make shots. It’s been a little bit of a slow recovery for him from his hamstring injury back against Saigon.
“But it was great seeing him come out and make shots for us. We’ll need that the rest of the series.”
Now, the 40-year-old bench strategist and his men are aiming their targets on Game Three this coming Saturday, April 28, which will be in Mono’s homecourt in Stadium 29 in Bangkok — a place that will surely be a hostile one for Alab.
“Get one in Thailand. That’s our whole focus, try to get one on Saturday and give ourselves an opportunity to bring it back home,” said the former Gilas Pilipinas court general.
“Not looking anything further past Saturday.”
