Alab routs Saigon Heat in ABL

CEBU, Philippines — Another Cebu home game. Another dominating win for San Miguel Alab Pilipinas in the ASEAN Basketball League: 111-87 over Saigon Heat at the Hoops Dome Sunday night before another sell-out crowd.

Alab thus scored its 10th straight home win (second in Cebu), setting the stage for what could be a Cebu hosting of a playoff game of Alab later in the season.

Buoyed by the hometown crowd, Alab raced to a 33-17 lead after the first period as the hulking PJ Ramos bulldozed his way with 14 points, including two triples.

The lead ballooned to 53-33 at halftime with Bobby Ray Parks and Renaldo Balkman leading the offense with seven points apiece in the period.

But Saigon Heat stepped up and gave Alab Coach Jimmy Alapag the fits as the visitors, re-charged from a halftime break, sliced the lead to just eight at 72-64 on a triple by Chris Dierker.

The Alab defense was soft, allowing nine Saigon triples before finally recovering to protect an 81-69 lead after three quarters.

When asked about the third quarter, Alapag said that he wasn’t happy with the way the team played. “We held them to 33 points in the first half and then we give up 36 in the third quarter. And that’s dangerous,” Alapag said.

Saigon leaned on their momentum to start the fourth quarter, slashing the lead to only eight anew at 81-73 on a trey by Murphy Burnatowski.

But Balkman took over, working with Parks and Ramos on a 22-7 run to put away the game for good, 103-82, four minutes left in the game.

Balkman scored 13 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter. He also grabbed seven rebounds and dished out five assists. PJ Ramos led Alab with 30 points, 18 rebounds and four assists. Parks had 23 points and seven assists.

Dierker led Saigon with 20 points as Burnatowski added 19.

Since this was Alab’s last game in Cebu for this season’s elimination round, talks have started on a possible playoff game here in Cebu.

‘We’d love to play here. Cebu has always been special and we are grateful for the support,” Alapag said.

Alab now sits at the top of the standings at 12-2 followed by Formosa Dreamers (10-5), Singapore Slingers (9-6), Saigon Heat (10-7), Hong Kong Eastern (11-8), CLS Knights Indonesia (9-8), Macau (7-7), Westsports Malaysia (5-8), Mono Vampire (3-12) and Wolf Warriors (2-15). (FREEMAN)