MANILA – San Miguel-Alab Pilipinas booked a finals seat in the 2018 ASEAN Basketball League after a 79-72 win over Hong Kong Eastern Long Lions in Game 2 of the best-of-three semifinals on Sunday at the Santa Rosa Multipurpose Complex in Laguna.
Justin Brownlee led the way with double-double 22 points and 11 rebounds, while fellow import Renaldo Balkman added 21 points and 11 boards for the Philippine side, which reached the ABL finals for the first time since 2013.
Reigning MVP Bobby Ray Parks Jr. also had double-double 13 points and 13 boards, while Negrense Paolo Javelona had 11 points for Alab, which will battle the winner between Mono Vampire of Thailand and Chong Son Kung Fu of Hong Kong.
“A lot of credit goes to our guys. It wasn’t easy at the start of the season,” said Alab head coach Jimmy Alapag. “We’ve got a great group of guys. They’re very resilient. They work extremely hard during practice.”
Holding to a slim 37-32 lead at the half, Alab started to pull away late in the third period when Balkman, who scored league-record 46 points in Alab’s Game 1 win, unloaded consecutive points to increase the lead to 60-49.
Alab continued its run in the final period behind Parks, Brownlee and Javelona for its largest lead 69-51. Long Lions tried to make a run but could only come to as close as 7 points.
American Marcus Elliot top-scored with 25 markers for the dethroned champion Long Lions. Filipino-German Christian Standhardinger had double-double 16 points and 10 rebounds in his final game before taking his act to the PBA for San Miguel Beermen.
Thai-American Tyler Lamb, the reigning ABL Heritage MVP, was held to a season-low 8 points – with a 3-of-11 shooting on the field – by the tight defense of Alab’s Javelona./PN
