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| Calvin Williams (L) and the Chang Thailand Slammers have fallen on hard times in the 2011-2012 AirAsia ABL. |
SAIGON HEAT over INDONESIA WARRIORS, 88-86
The Saigon Heat made one of the most incredible comebacks in AirAsia ASEAN Basketball history . After being down by 8 points in the last 30 seconds of the game, the Heat managed to pull an incredible comeback to defeat the Indonesia Warriors.
Jahmar Thorpe led all scoring with 23 points and Jonathan Jones added a double-double with 19 points and 15 rebounds. The Heat also received big contributions from Robert Sanz, who finished with 17 points. Heat coach Jason Rabedeaux could not have asked for a better birthday present and was unable to hide his excitement after the game.
The drama started when Allan Salangsang missed two free throws with 32 seconds to go in the final quarter while the Warriors were up 86-78. On the next possession, Jonathan Jones made a lay-up while being fouled by Jonathan Smith. Jones, however, missed his free throw.
Mario Wuysang had a chance to stretch the Warriors lead back to 8 points, but he missed two free throws, which led to a three point shot by Heat’s guard Minh Trieu to make it a one possession game, 83-86. Wuysang opened the door for the Heat once some more after missing both of his free throws again, and John Smith took full advantage by calmly hitting a corner 3-point shot to tie the game at 86 causing the fans at Tan Binh Stadium to erupt. Trieu and Smith finished with 11 points each.
After Smith’s triple, Amin Prihantono made a crucial mistake when he carelessly inbounded the ball and Rob Sanz was able to deflect it. Prihantono and Sanz both tried to get the loose ball, but a foul was called on Prihantono. Thorpe, who has been the Heat’s clutch-hitter, made another big play. After Sanz missed both of his free throws, the Warriors did not box out Thorpe and he flew to the rim to tip-in Sanz’s missed free throw for the game-winner.
Steven Thomas recorded his 14th double-double with 21 points and 14 rebounds, Jonathan Smith finished with 19 points and Allan Salangsang added 16 points. With this loss, the Warriors are now at fourth position with 7 wins and 9 losses, while the Heat moved to seventh position with 5 wins and 9 losses.
SGH 88 – Thorpe 23, Jones 19, Sanz 17, Smith 11, Trieu 11, Javier 7
INW 86 – Thomas 21, Smith 19, Salangsang 16, Wuysang 10, Canada 10, Gunawan 7, Prihantono 3
QS: 24-27, 46-44, 62-66, 88-86X
AIRASIA PHILIPPINE PATRIOTS over BANGKOK COBRAS, 84-78
This was a close game that saw the AirAsia Philippine Patriots holding on to grab their 13th win out of 15 games at the expense of the Bangkok Cobras.
Nakiea Miller had an incredible game tonight and led all-scoring with 25 points on top of 11 rebounds and 9 blocks. Teammate Anthony Johnson added in a further 22 points.
The Cobras’ starting five contributed all of Bangkok’s points, led by Ratdech Kruatiwa’s 19. Marvin Cruz and Travis George put in 17 points apiece, followed by Gentry Lewis’s 15 and Jai Reyes’s 10.
It was a down-the-wire affair at the Chulalongkorn University as the Patriots found themselves with a very slim 4-point lead with less than a minute to go. Anthony Johnson put the final nails on the Cobras’ coffin only after he calmly converted both his free throws to continue the Patriots’ grasp of first place.
APP 84 – Miller 25, Johnson 22, Raymundo 12, Ramos 11, Adriano 8, Ybanez 3, Vergara 3
BKC 78 – Kruatiwa 19, Cruz 17, George 17, Lewis 15, Reyes 10
QS: 18-24, 43-37, 68-62, 84-78
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| Chaiwat Kaedum and Aldrech Ramos help up Ardy Larong as the Patriots tripped the Cobras. |
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| Anthony Johnson rises up over the defense to score 2 of his 22 points. |
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| Travis George hoists one up and over the arms of Angelus Raymundo. |
SAIGON HEAT over CHANG THAILAND SLAMMERS, 58-56
The Saigon Heat’s run to make the playoffs continued after they held on to beat the Chang Thailand Slammers. With this win, the race for the final playoffs spot is getting tighter as the Heat and JobStreet.com Singapore Slingers reight on the heels of the Indonesia Warriors, who are sitting at the fourth spot in the standings.
Jahmar Thorpe led the Heat with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Jonathan Jones also recorded a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds.
The Heat overcame a big effort from Slammers’ import Calvin Williams who finished the game with 17 points and 20 rebounds.
It was a tight game in the final frame, as both teams engaged in a nip-and-tuck affair. The Slammers went to Montien Wongsawangtum for the last shot, but unfortunately he missed the potential game-winner. Wongsawangtum had a tough game, missing all of his 9 shots in this game. The Slammers’ other import, Christopher Garnett, finished with 14 points.
SGH 58 – Thorpe 15, Jones, 14, Javier 12, Sanz 8, Smith 7, Trieu 2
CTS 56 – Williams 17, Garnett 14, Leynes 6, Angeles 6, Apiromvilaichai 6, Lertmalaiporn 5, Supachai 2
QS: 18-9, 31-26, 49-40, 58-56
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| John Smith goes for the drive as the Heat continue their surprising surge late in the season. |
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| Robert Sanz pulls up against the Slammers for 2 of his 8 points. |
SAN MIGUEL BEERMEN over WESTPORTS MALAYSIA DRAGONS, 92-76
The highly anticipated duo of Duke Crews and Nick Fazekas lived up to their hype . Crews led all scoring with 29 points while Fazekas recorded a double-double in his debut with 26 points and 14 rebounds in their win over the Westports Malaysia Dragons.
Tiras Wade was back in the Dragons’ line-up after missing 2 games due to a hamstring injury. Wade finished with 28 points and 11 rebounds. The Dragons also recruited former Indonesia Warriors import Jonathan Smith as a temporary replacement for Brian Williams. Smith had 14 points and 12 rebounds in his Dragons debut. With this loss, the Dragons are on a six-game slump, but still sitting at third position with a record of 7 wins and 8 losses.
The Beermen began to pull away in the third quarter by outscoring the Dragons 28-19. Crews had a huge third quarter, putting in 6 dunks and 14 points. His dunk at 3:04 left in the 3rd quarter capped a 20-7 run, which gave the Beermen a 62-42 lead. The Beermen came into the final quarter with a comfortable 54-70 lead.
Leo Avenido, who chipped in 15 points for the Beermen, gave his team their biggest lead in this game after hitting a three-point shot to make it 77-56 with 8:42 left. The Dragons were unable to get any closer than 14 points after a dunk by Smith cut their deficit to 69-83 with 3:33 to go. The Beermen outshot the Dragons 55% to 42% in this game.
SMB 92 – Crews 29, Fazekas 26, Avenido 15, Fajardo 6, Baguion 4, Cabatu 4, Fernandez 3, Yap 3, Ferriols 2
WMD 76 – Wade 28, Smith 14, Cabahug 13, Ng 7, Belasco 5, Batumalai 4, Kuppusamy 3, Loh 2
QS: 20-21, 42-35, 70-54, 92-76
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| Tiras Wade and the Dragons have slowed down a bit after a hot start to their campaign. |
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| Guga Batumalai spins back outside as the SMB defense closes the baseline. |
*Game Recaps compiled and compressed from AseanBasketballLeague.com
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