Alab Pilipinas bows to Vietnam

By Adrian Stewart Co

San Miguel-Alab Pilipinas continues to struggle in the 2019 ASEAN Basketball League after an 80-81 defeat at the hands of Saigon Heat on Sunday at the CIS Arena in Vietnam.
It was the fourth consecutive defeat of the defending champions Alab to enter the playoffs round as the no. 2 seed with 18-8 and will face Hong Kong Eastern Long Lions in the best-of-three quarterfinals.
Despite struggling all game long, Alab Pilipinas had a chance to win it with the score tied at 80-all with 22 seconds remaining but Bobby Ray Parks Jr.’s basket was blocked by Heat’s Kyle Barone.
Alab Pilipinas’ Chris Sumalinog then committed a foul on Heat’s Trevon Hughes, who split his two free throws to surge the Vietnamese ahead for good before seeing Alab misfired its final attempt.
Renaldo Balkman made his return from injury to finish with 25 points, eight rebounds, and two assists, while Parks, Jr. nabbed 16 points, two rebounds, and two assists and Brandon Rosser had 14 points and eight rebounds.
Hughes paced the Heat with 24 points, eight assists, six rebounds, and four steals, while Barone chipped in 22 points, 14 boards, and three blocks for the Heat, which slipped to 14-12./ASC, WDJ