ABL: Alab slips past Formosa for 4th straight triumph

By Jonas Terrado

San Miguel Alab Pilipinas came back from a 17-point first half deficit to slip past the Formosa Dreamers 100-99 Sunday and extend its winning streak to four games in the ASEAN Basketball League at the Changua County Stadium in Taiwan.

Khalif Wyatt’s three off a Jason Brickman assist with 27.0 seconds remaining in the fourth gave Alab the lead before the host Dreamers missed their final three shots to come away with a hard-fought road victory.

Coach Jimmy Alapag’s squad maintain a share of the lead with Thailand’s Mono Vampire at 4-1 going into a two-week holiday break. Alab returns to action on Jan. 5 at home against the Macau Wolf Warriors.

Wyatt finished with 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting, Brickman had 12 points and 12 assists and 7-foot-5 Sam Deguara delivered 20 points and nine rebounds for Alab.

Alab trailed 49-32 with over six minutes left in the second against a Formosa team led by former World Import Most Valuable Player Anthony Tucker.

But Alab came back in the third behind Deguara, Brickman and Wyatt to take a 79-77 lead going into the fourth.

Jordan Tolbert made 25 points and nine rebounds while Tucker had 22 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists but the Dreamers dropped to 2-4.

Formosa fell short of sweeping the weekend schedule which began Saturday by defeating fellow Taiwanese side Fubon Braves 88-80.

The scores:

ALAB PILIPINAS 100 — Deguara 20, King 19, Wyatt 17, Brickman 12, Domingo 10, Vigil 9, Heading 7, Ganuelas-Rosser 6, Grey 0.

FORMOSA 99 — Tolbert 25, Tucker 22, Yang 14, Chang 13, Tien 10, Wu 9, Young 6, Chen 0.

Quarters: 23-30; 51-59; 79-77; 100-99.

Source: Manila Bulletin