BINAN, Laguna - Alab Pilipinas finally got a victory over the Singapore Slingers, 74-72, on Friday night in the Asean Basketball League (ABL) at the Alonte Sports Arena.
Alab raised its record to 4-2 (win-loss) but not after surviving several anxious moments against a Slingers side that refused to fold until the final seconds.
The Philippine side's first win in three meetings against the Slingers wasn't assured until Singapore import Xavier Alexander missed a lay-up in the game's final play.
Bobby Ray Parks finished with 17 points and nine rebounds, while Lawrence Domingo added 14 points and 12 rebounds for Alab, which put the game way on a 13-3 run triggered by the clutch heroics of Jeric Fortuna.
Fortuna had 12 points including two triples in the crucial stretch to give Alab a 71-63 lead before Parks completed a three-point play to give Alab an 11-point cushion.
Singapore, however, refused to fold, going on a 9-0 run. It also got a chance to win the match after Parks committed a five-second inbound violation with 17.4 seconds left in the game.
The Slingers lost for only the second time in nine matches when Alexander missed in its final possession.
Alab went off to a hot start after taking a 15-4 lead in the first period but Singapore slowly chipped away at the gap, getting its first taste of the lead on a free throw by Alexander, 60-59.
The scores:
Alab Pilipinas (74) - Parks 17, Domingo 14, Fortuna 12, Hughes 8, Carter 6, Acuña 6, Celiz 4, Hubalde 3, Gavieres 2, Mendoza 2, Cawaling 0, Knuttel 0.
Singapore (72) - Alexander 24, Wei Long 14, Howard 13, Austria 3, Ng 3, Folkoff 3, Kwek 12, Oh 0, Lim 0.
Quarterscores: 17-10, 37-27, 55-46, 74-72