Parks powers Alab over Dragons

BOBBY RAY PARKS JR. bounced back from a dismal performance, leading the Alab Pilipinas to an 8779 win over the Westports Malaysia Dragons in the Asean Basketball League at the Baliwag Star Arena in Bulacan late Friday evening.

Held down to his lowest output in the tournament in their 64-62 win over Singapore Slingers, Parks scored 15 points and added five assists and three steals to lead the home team to its second straight win.

Alab stayed at the third spot with an 8-4 win-loss mark.

Parks hit a timely triple when the visiting team threatened to come closer resulting in an 83-77 cushion for Alab with 35 seconds left in the game.

“At the end of the day, a win is a win and we just got to grow,” said Parks. “We’re just treading the water.”

Alab erected a 20-15 lead after JR Cawaling’s buzzer-beating triple to end the first period and back-toback baskets by Lawrence Domingo and Robby Celiz gave the PH 5 a 40-34 halftime lead.

Malaysia started to show signs of life after the break behind the solid plays of Fil-Am shooting guard Joshua Munzon whose dunk pushed the Dragons with five, 4954, 3:44 left in the third period.

Cawaling and Domingo once again joined forces for Alab to carry a 67-57 lead entering the final quarter.

But the Dragons refused to quit and even trimmed Alab’s lead to three, 77-80, before Parks nailed the huge triple to ice the game.

Cawaling and Celiz each had 14 points while Domingo added eight and six boards. Import Sampson Carter had a stellar outing of 15 points and 11 rebounds while fellow reinforcement James Hughes had 14 points and 18 rebounds.

Munzon finished with 20 points, five assists and two steals for the Dragons, who dropped to 2-10.

Both squads will clash again on Sunday this time at the home turf of the Dragons at the House of Champions at 2:30 p.m.