Patriots gain homecourt edge in semis

MANILA, Philippines - Steve Thomas and Alex Crisano took over in overtime as the AirAsia-Philippine Patriots hacked out a 77-74 victory over Satria Muda BritAma to clinch the No. 2 spot in the AirAsia ASEAN Basketball League playoffs at the BritAma Arena in Jakarta Saturday.

Crisano scored the first basket in the extra period then set up Thomas under the basket before joining hands with Gabe Freeman and Warren Ybanez in whisking off the hosts’ fightback to finish second behind Thailand in the three-round elimination.

With the win, the Patriots wound up with a 9-6 record, thus giving them the homecourt advantage in their semis series with the Kuala Lumpur Dragons.

The Brunei Barracudas stunned the Dragons, 87-73, before a huge hometown crowd in Bandar Seri Begawan also over the weekend. The Dragons dropped to No. 3 with an 8-7 card.

The best-of-three semis series starts Sunday at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig with the Patriots, co-owned by Mikee Romero and Tony Boy Cojuangco, hoping to retain the title they won over the Indonesians last year.

Had the Dragons won, they could have secured the homecourt edge since they have beaten the Patriots twice in three meetings this year.

Thomas, a 6-foot-9 former PBA import, finished with 21 points, 19 rebounds, five steals and two blocks in 45 minutes while Crisano came off the bench to fire nine points while hauling down six rebounds.

Doni Ristanto scored from the paint as Satria Muda moved to within 74-77 with 2:19 left but the Indonesians fumbled on their offense in the stretch with Marcus Morrison muffing a game-tying triple in the dying seconds.

Freeman bucked early foul trouble and an 8-of-24 shooting to finish with 18 points and 13 rebounds. Junjun Cabatu and Warren Ybanez also contributed nine and eight points, respectively.