Philippine teams topple ABL foes
THE COUNTRY’S squads in the ASEAN Basketball League emerged victorious over the weekend as they defeated their respective opponents with the league-leading AirAsia Philippine Patriots beating the Indonesia Warriors on the road, 72-68, while the San Miguel Beermen routed the Thailand Slammers, 92-77, on their home floor at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City.
Former pro Leo Avenido burned the nets for SMB with 26 points and got ample help from import Jarrid Famous who ended up with 18 markers.
The game was going in the Beermen’s direction early on as they led, 51-30, at halftime and even pushed their advantage to a whopping 30 points, 82-52, in the final period. SMB improved their record to 8-3 (win-loss). The Patriots, on the other hand, improved to 8-2.
Cebuanos Earn Saguindel and JP Alcaraz were recently signed up by the Slammers, and they combined to score 14 points in the defeat.
In Jakarta, Anthony Johnson sizzled for 24 points and had two key free throws with over a minute left in the match that gave the Patriots a three-point cushion, 65-62. Later, a booming three-pointer by another Cebuano Aldrech Ramos put the game away as it pushed them further in front, 68-63 with 36 seconds remaining.
Al Vergara and Nakiea Miller combined to score 23 points to help the Patriots keep the lead in the standings. Their defense on reigning league MVP Mario Wuysang was stellar as the latter was held down to just two points. /Correspondent Jonas Panerio
