Alab Pilipinas off to fiery start in ABL

MANILA, Philippines — San Miguel Alab Pilipinas shut down Formosa Dreamers in the stretch as it hacked out an 86-72 victory to stay unbeaten and on top in the 2018-19 Asean Basketball League (ABL) at the Sta. Rosa Multi-Purpose Complex in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.

Down by four points with a little less than seven minutes remaining, the Beerman threw a defensive blanket on the Dreamers and unleashed a 21-3 scoring tear to secure their third straight victory and the solo lead.

Renaldo Balkman powered his way to 19 points and 20 rebounds while Ethan Alvano contributed four points and four assists in a crucial stretch in the fourth quarter.

PJ Ramos had 16 points, seven caroms, PBA-bound Bobby Ray Parks scattered 13 points and Pao Javelona chipped in 11 as Alab dealt Formosa its second straight defeat after starting the season with six wins in a row.

Malcom Miller came through with 23 points, seven boards and seven assists while William Artino had 14 points and 12 rebounds but faded away in the end, no thanks to Alab’s tight defense.

It was a close match from the onset as the league’s top teams fought to 13 lead changes and 12 deadlocks.

Formosa appeared to have gained the upper hand when it seized a 69-65 lead with 6:56 remaining.

However, it proved to be the Dreamers’ last show of force as the Beermen took over the final seven minutes.

San Miguel Alab was fighting  the Singapore Slingers for win No. 4 at press time last night at the Caloocan Sports Complex.

The scores:

San Miguel Alab Pilipinas 86 – Balkman 19, Ramos 16, Parks 13, Javelona 11, Urbiztondo 6, Domingo 6, Tiongson 6, Rosser 5, Alvano 4.

Formosa Dreamers 72 – Miller 23, Artino 14, Glass 14, Chien 11, Tien 5, Wu 3, Lee 2, Cheng 0, Chen 0.

Quarterscores: 14-20; 39-39; 63-60; 86-72