MANILA – Jeremiah Gray came up with a huge defensive stop for San Miguel-Alab Pilipinas to escape defeat with a 77-76 away victory over Hong Kong Eastern Long Lions in the 2019-2020 ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) on Jan. 23 at the Southorn Stadium in Hong Kong.
The 6-foot-4 Filipino- American guard was the culprit that denied Jon Siu’s potential game-winning long bomb for the Long Lions that made the Filipino team escape after blowing a lead as high as 19 points.
Gray, the crucial win provider of the match, finished with 11 points, five rebounds, five assists and three blocks to give Alab Pilipinas a successful bounce back game after deflating a 64-85 loss to Singapore Slingers a week ago and improve their win-loss record to 6-3.
The Filipino
ball club seemed headed to an easy victory after establishing a 49-30 advantage
in the second half, but the Long Lions roared things around in the final period
that even the lead sided with them at 76-73.
Alab Pilipinas, however, countered with baskets via Sam Deguara and Nick King
to front their team, 77-76, before Gray performed the crucial rejection.
King led Alab Pilipinas with 24 points, while debuting import Prince William added 14 marks, six rebounds and four assist.
Brandis Raley-Ross had a near triple-double outing of 33 points, 11 rebounds, and eight assists, but it was not enough as the Long Lions fell to a 3-5 win-loss record./PN
