Alab Pilipinas weathers late Saigon storm to clinch home win

Delfin Dioquino

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Alab Pilipinas weathers late Saigon storm to clinch home win
Led by Nick King and Sam Deguara, Alab Pilipinas rediscovers its winning form for its ninth victory in 14 ABL games

LAGUNA, Philippines – Alab Pilipinas averted a late meltdown against the Saigon Heat to hack out an 82-75 win in the ASEAN Basketball League at the Sta. Rosa Multi-Purpose Complex on Sunday, February 9. 

The home team saw its 23-point lead shaved to just 4 points in the final minute, but held on to the hard-earned win thanks to crucial buckets from Sam Deguara and Jeremiah Gray to hike their record to 9-5.

Alab is now tied with the Taipei Fubon Braves for the No. 2 spot, just behind the league-leading Mono Vampires, who tote a 10-4 card. 

Two Sam Thompson free throws put the visiting Heat withing striking distance, 75-79, with 40 seconds left but Alab practically sealed the victory with a Deguara dunk off a nifty pass from Nick King in the next play.

Saigon missed its next 3 shots as Gray extended the Alab advantage to 7 points by splitting his free throws. 

King waxed hot with 26 points, 12 rebounds, 5 assists, and 4 steals, while Deguara chalked up 15 points on a healthy 7-of-8 clip to go with 7 rebounds. 

Gray chimed in 13 points and 6 rebounds, including their first 5 points that gave Alab a scorching start, as Jordan Heading came off the bench with 9 points, all from three-point distance, in the win. 

Thompson put the Heat on his back with 32 points and 11 rebounds, but their sluggish first-half showing where they trailed 31-50 proved too much to overcome despite outscoring Alab 21-11 in the final quarter. 

Saigon dropped to 3-10 as it remained at the bottom of the standings at 10th place. – Rappler.com

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Delfin Dioquino

Delfin Dioquino dreamt of being a PBA player, but he did not have the skills to make it. So he pursued the next best thing to being an athlete – to write about them. He took up journalism at the University of Santo Tomas and joined Rappler as soon as he graduated in 2017.