MANILA – San Miguel-Alab Pilipinas succumbed to an 83-88 loss at the hands of Hong Kong Eastern Long Lions in the 2019 ASEAN Basketball League on Wednesday night at the Southorn Stadium in Wan Chai, Hong Kong.
Long Lions’ 7-foot-4 center Samuel Deguara took advantage of the absence of Alab Pilipinas’ 7-foot-3 import Peter John Ramos to feast with 18 points, 31 rebounds and eight blocks.
Michael Holyfield tallied 19 markers, while Lee Ki and Marcus Elliot added 17 and 13 markers, respectively, for the Long Lions, which pulled one win back in their season series with the Alab after the latter won the first three encounters.
The Long Lions immediately imposed its will on the shorthanded Alab Pilipinas and build a lead as high as 14 points but the Philippine team leaned on the exploits of Bobby Ray Parks Jr. to seize a 77-71 edge on back-to-back treys.
The Long Lions was quick to equalize with Lee and Elliot converting a triple each before Deguara bullied his way against the defense of Alab Pilipinas to surge to an 82-77 advantage.
The Philippine squad made its last push with Renaldo Balkman draining a three pointer to cut the deficit to 83-88 but two free throws from Elliot sealed the win for the Long Lions.
Parks tallied 29 markers, Balkman chipped in 14 markers, while Ethan Alvano and Joshua Urbiztondo had 11 markers each for Alab, which remained on top with 13-3 win-loss slate./PN
