Make it yet another perfect homecoming for Ray Parks, Jr. and the rest of Alab Pilipinas.
Parks, Jr. scored 35, as Alab Pilipinas dismantled Saigon Heat through a 99-77 wire-to-wire bounce back victory, Friday night at the Olivarez College Coliseum in Parañaque City.
After smashing the league-record scoring for locals in his first game in Parañaque, Ray Parks, Jr. broke yet another record in triples made as Alab Pilipinas demolished Saigon Heat through a 99-77 wire-to-wire bounce-back win Friday evening at the Olivarez College Coliseum.
The win helped Alab redeem themselves from a frustrating 93-80 loss versus Hongkong Eastern Long Lions last week. They now go 6-3 in the team standings, while the bottom-ranked Heat absorbed their third straight loss and went down to 1-6.
“I told them this is a character game for us after being blown that way by Hongkong,” said head coach Mac Cuan. “If we don’t show who the real Alab Pilipinas are, then we don’t have business here.”
Parks, Jr., who posted his season-high 41 points also at the same venue last December, nailed eight three-pointers — writing off the seven treys made by Kaohsiung Truth’s Wesley Hsu just two days ago. He finished with a game-high 35 points to go along with five boards and three dimes.
Parks, Jr. explosive night started as early as in the first quarter, already posting 19 points — 15 coming from the five triples he unloaded — to anchor Alab’s commanding 26-12 lead as the game’s first 10 minutes wrapped up.
Though not shooting as hot as the first period, Parks, Jr. still continued to roll offensively for Alab. His record-breaking moment came in the 4:26 mark of the third canto, when his triple from the wing swished in to put Alab up 73-47 and officially top Hsu’s record.
From there, the Filipino squad sustained momentum all through out. They even led by as much as 28, 85-57, after a Hans Thiele lay-up in the 8:03 mark of the final quarter. The 28-point gap also served as the game’s widest distance, an insurmountable deficit for the Heat.
Saigon still tried their best to fight back, receiving a huge lift from imports Joshua Munzon and Lenny Daniel to trim the gap to just 17, 92-75, with 2:07 to go. But baskets by Lawrence Domingo and Sampson Carter in the closing moments shut the door for a Heat comeback.
“Good thing they accepted the challenge,” furthered Cuan.
Three more players from the Philippine contingent paced Alab and posted respective double-doubles. Carter scored 16 points and had 12 rebounds, while Domingo made 15 markers and 11 boards. James Hughes added 12 and 13.
Only two players scored in double-digits for Saigon. World Import Daniel led the eight-man team with 31 markers and 14 rebounds, while Fil-Am Heritage Import Munzon backed him up with 20 points on a dismal 7-of-17 clip.
Alab dominated in all team stats department in the 22-point drubbing.
Both squads will have a rematch on February 5, Sunday, 8:00 PM at the Almendras Gym in Davao City.
The Scores:
Alab Pilipinas (99) – Parks, Jr., 35, Carter 16, Domingo 15, Hughes 12, Cawaling 9, Fortuna 6, Hubalde 2, Celiz 2, Thiele 2, Knuttel 0, Mendoza 0, Acuña 0.
Saigon Heat (77) – Daniel 31, Munzon 20, Nguyen 9, Arnold 6, Charles 6, Bui 0.
Quarterscores: 26-14, 54-30, 80-55, 99-77.
