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| The Slingers huddle after the win. |
By Ivan Saldajeno
BIÑAN—The Singapore
Slingers bucked off playing undermanned and handed Alab Pilipinas a loss in its
ABL debut, 71-66, at the Alonte Sports Arena on Sunday night.
Playing with only eight men, the Slingers used a 16-0 run in
the third quarter to rally back from 11 points down but needed some lucky
breaks down the stretch to move to solo first place at 2-0.
Alab had a bright moment in the second period, going on a
17-4 run to open the game's largest gap at 31-20 and would keep the lead to at
most eight later on.
But Singapore launched the huge 16-0 rally highlighted by a
thunderous posterizer by Xavier Alexander on Ray-Ray Parks to go up, 55-47.
Alab did not give up, ending the third on an 8-0 blitz
capped by a buzzer-beating three from Jeric Fortuna and adding two more from
Eric Sandrin at the start of the fourth to retake the lead, 57-55, and set up a
down-the-wire finish.
However, the breaks did not go Alab's way in the end as Sandrin
missed potential go-ahead baskets and the club had two crucial errors that
sealed its fate.
Justin Howard had 22 points, 20 rebounds, two assists, two
blocks, and one steal, while Wong Wei Long added 17 points, two rebounds, three
assists, and one steal for the Slingers.
Parks led Alab with 19 points, seven rebounds, four assists,
and three steals.
Box Scores:
Singapore 71-Howard 22, Wong 17, Alexander 15, Kwek 11, Ng
4, Folkoff 2, Austria 0, Oh 0
Alab 66-Parks 19, Sandrin 13, Fortuna 10, Acuña 7, Thiele 6,
Cawaling 5, Celiz 2, Domingo 2, Hubalde 2, Mendoza 0, Knuttel 0
Quarterscores: 16-14, 30-39, 55-55, 71-66
Follow him on Twitter: @IvanSaldajeno
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