Alab scorches Vampires in Game 3

SAN Miguel Alab Pilipinas inches closer toward winning the ASEAN Basketball League ( ABL) title as it beat Mono Vampire Basketball Club 99- 93 in Game Three of the best- of- five finals last Saturday at the packed Stadium 29 in Thailand.

Philippine hoops MVP Bobby Ray Parks Jr. paced the visiting team with a game- high 30 points to go along with five rebounds, and two assists while import Justin Brownlee, though nursing a leg injury, delivered a monster performance of 27 points, 12 rebounds, and seven assists. Alab now holds a 2- 1 advantage in the series.

“Justin wasn’t a 100 percent. I really don’t have an explanation to describe what type of player and person he is. Honestly, my plan wasn’t to allow him to play but he came up to me and he said he was ready to go.” said Alab head coach Jimmy Alapag.

Brownlee missed the entire fourth quarter of Game 2 last Wednesday due to a leg injury. The Mono Vampire exploited the opportunity to knot the series at one-apiece.

Mono Vampire enjoyed a slight 65- 63 lead at the 3: 16 mark in the third period.

However, Alab answered with a resounding 24- 13 run highlighted by a layup by Renaldo Balkman en route to a comfortable nine- point advantage 87- 78 with under four minutes left in the game.

The Mono Vampire initiated a late 12-6 attack to trim the lead down to three, 93-90 but it was not enough to stop Alab from winning.

Balkman supported Parks Jr. and Brownlee by finishing with 24 points, 16 rebounds, and seven assists.

Import Mike Singletary led Mono Vampire with 29 points while teammates Samuel Deguara and Filipino guard Paul Zamar had 19 and 16 points respectively.

Heading into Game 4, Alapag vowed to bounce back from their bronze medal finish last year.

“It’s a quick turnaround. We got 36 hours before Game 4. The biggest thing now is for these guys to recover. We’ll put out our heart and soul on Monday,” Alapag said.

Game 4 between Alab and Mono Vampire is scheduled Monday at 3:30 p.m. at the same venue.