ALAB Pilipinas had another boost from its “sixth man”--the droves of fans that cheered the home team and jeered the visiting team--as it won its second Cebu home game.
With a jam-packed crowd behind its back, league leader Alab Pilipinas outclassed Saigon Heat, 111-87, in the Asean Basketball League (ABL) Sunday night, Feb. 3, at the Hoops Dome in Lapu-Lapu City.
“The crowd here in Cebu is always amazing. I feel really fortunate this season that we had the opportunity to play here twice. This place has been special since the first time I played here in the (PBA) All-Star game in 2004 and 15 years later the crowd is still incredible. We appreciate everyone coming out to support Alab the way they have in these last two games. And hopefully we’ll be back again,” said Alab Pilipinas head coach and former PBA star Jimmy Alapag.
The crowd cheered every basket converted by the home team, especially the rim-rattling dunks of 7-foot-3 center PJ Ramos. The boos reverberated for the visiting Saigon heat, except for Dang Khoa Tran’s wiggle dance routine at the free throw line that brought out laughter and cheers from the crowd.
Alab Pilipinas immediately dominated Saigon by taking a 20-point first half lead, 53-33, led by Ramos and Bobby Ray Parks Jr., who both had 16 points in the first half.
Saigon, however, came alive in the third quarter as Alab Pilipinas became complacent. The Heat started the third period with a 9-0 run to trim it down to 11 points, 53-42. Saigon big men De Angelo Hamilton, Murphy Burnatowski and Chris Dierker were hitting their three-pointers. Luckily, Hamilton, who scored 10 in the third fouled out with less than three minutes left in the period.
“I thought we were really good in the first half. I thought we fouled a little bit too much in the first half but I think our 20-peat lead could have easily been 30 if we didn’t give up those fouls. It seemed like in the second half, especially in the third quarter, we just didn’t play well. I wasn’t happy with the effort. You leave a team like Saigon, which has good imports, and you open the door for them. All of a sudden you give up nine three pointers in the third quarter. We held them at 33 points in the first half and you give up 36 points in the third quarter. That’s dangerous because you leave that door open and now in the fourth they started making shots that weren’t on the scouting report because of the confidence they built in the third. We have to be better. A win is a win but we’ve still got a long way to go. We’ve still got 12 more games before the playoffs start. We have to build our consistency as the season goes forward,” said Alapag.
Alab Pilipinas woke up in the fourth quarter and outgunned Saigon, 30-18.
Ramos led Alab Pilipinas with an impressive double-double of 30 points and 18 rebounds, along with four assists. Balkman also put up eye-popping numbers of 29 points, seven rebounds, five assists and a block, while Parks had 23 points, seven assists and a steal.
Dierker sparked Saigon’s offense with 20 points, five rebounds and three steals. Burnatowski added 19, Trevon Hughes chipped in 16, Hamilton contributed with 15 and Tran had 11.
Alab Pilipinas improved to 12-2 at the top spot, while Saigon dropped down to fourth place at 10-7.
Alab Pilipinas’ next assignment is against Hong Kong Eastern on Feb. 8 at the Southorn Stadium in Wan Chai, Hong Kong. (EKA)