MANILA – San Miguel Beer-Alab Pilipinas boosted its outright semifinals seat in the 2018 ASEAN Basketball League after a 101-63 victory over CLS Knights of Indonesia at the Santa Rosa Multipurpose Complex in Laguna.
John Murphy Raymundo posted 20 points, Bobby Ray Parks Jr. added 19 markers to go along with six steals, while Negrense Nico Javelona contributed 18 for the Philippine squad.
Alab ended its elimination round campaign Sunday night with a 14-6 win-loss card. It was guaranteed with at least the third seed in the quarterfinals but may still secure the No. 2 spot and an outright berth in the semis.
Renaldo Balkman, who was still recovering from a slight knee injury, and Justin Brownlee were sparingly used, finishing with just 11 points each, while Lawrence Domingo had 10 markers.
Alab went on a hot start behind Javelona, Brownlee and Balkman for a 28-16 advantage. The lead grew further 56-30 at the half with Parks and Raymundo contributing on offense.
The Philippines continued to pounce on the Indonesians in the second half with Raymundo, Domingo and Parks leading the offensive charge for their largest lead at 28.
Shane Edwards had 21 points and seven rebounds while Brian Williams had 17 points and 12 rebounds for Knights, which finished its maiden campaign in the ABL with a 5-15 win-loss record./PN
