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| Tiras Wade (R) and the Dragons suffered another defeat as the Warriors overwhelmed them at home. |
INDONESIA WARRIORS over WESTPORTS MALAYSIA DRAGONS, 98-80
It didn’t take long for Stanley Pringle and Evan Brock to excite the Indonesia Warriors’ home crowd. Pringle’s killer crossovers and Brock’s powerful dunks had all the Warriors fans off their seats. Pringle finished with 24 points and Brock added 18 points in their debut to help the Warriors beat Westports Malaysia Dragons at Mahaka Square.
Pringle made an immediate impact in the first quarter, making 6 of his first 7 shots and going on to finish the quarter with 14 points. Brock, meanwhile, continued to entertain the fans with his array of dunks. Warriors fans were on their feet after Brock caught an alley-oop from Mario Wuysang early in the third quarter. On the next possesion, Brock hit a jumper to give Warriors their biggest lead in the game 62-36 with 9:13 left in the third.
The Dragons, however, made a 20-6 run to trim their deficit to 56-68 after a three-point shot by Tiras Wade. Back-to-back three point shots by Amin Prihantono and a lay-up by Rony Gunawan quashed their attempt, though, and the Warriors led 81-61 with 1:17 left in the third canto.
The Warriors dominated the boards as they outrebounded the Dragons 48-26. Steven Thomas finished with 22 rebounds for the Warriors. The Dragons’ leading rebounder Brian Williams still sat out the game, but the Dragons expect him to come back next weekend.
Tiras Wade had 22 points and former Indonesia Warriors’ import Jonathan Smith added 21 points and 10 rebounds for the Dragons. Chemistry has been an issue for the Dragons lately, and it showed late in the first quarter when Wade and Nic Belasco got into a heated discussion on the court.
After this win, the Warriors moved up to the third position with a record of 8 wins and 9 losses.
INW 98 – Pringle 24, Brock 18, Thomas 17, Wuysang 12, Salangsan 9, Prihantono 8, Canada 6, Ristanto 2, Gunawan 2
WMD 80 – Wade 22, Smith 21, Batumalai 11, Cabahug 10, Pacana 8, Belasco 4, Kuppusamy 3, Ng 1
QS: 32-20, 58-36, 81-63, 98-80
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| Stanley Pringle, the former Penn State star, had an auspicious debut for the Indonesia Warriors. |
SAN MIGUEL BEERMEN over AIRASIA PHILIPPINE PATRIOTS, 93-78
San Miguel Beermen put on a solid performance to complete the three-game sweep over their local rivals, the AirAsia Philippine Patriots, with a huge 92-78 win.
Leo Avenido and Duke Crews led their team in points with 23 apiece followed by Nick Fazekas, who contributed 16. This game also saw the much anticipated debut of SMB’s Chris Banchero, who finished the game with 11 points.
This game also marked the debut of Chris Alexander for the Patriots, following Nakiea Miller’s release. Alexander had a decent start for his team, completing his first game in with a double-double of 16 points and 12 rebounds.
Both teams have already earned their playoff spots, but this game determined which team would close out the regular season atop the standings. The Beermen started to pull away in the second quarter, even managing to erect a 13-point lead.
The Patriots were trying hard to regain control of the game in the second half, but they were unable to find an answer for the Beermen’s unstoppable due of Crews and Avenido. In the end, despite a valiant effort from Anthony Johnson, who topped the scoring with 30 points, the Patriots saw themselves losing their third game this season to the Beermen.
SMB 93 – Crews 23, Avenido 23, Fazekas 16, Banchero 11, Fernandez 8, Fajardo 5, Yap 3, Dimaunahan 3, Cabatu 1
APP 78 – Johnson 30, Alexander 16, Larong 9, Ybanez 6, Adriano 5, Fernandez 4, Laure 3, Wainwright 2, Raymundo 2, Ramos 1
QS: 22-18, 47-37, 64-55, 93-78
BANGKOK COBRAS over CHANG THAILAND SLAMMERS, 83-78
It was a game both teams needed to win in order to keep their playoff hopes alive. The Chang Thailand Slammers started off well and led after every quarter, but the Bangkok Cobras kept cutting into their lead and made good in the final quarter to take the win.
After a tight start, the Slammers took the first substantial lead of the game after an 8-point run to end the first quarter leading, 19-15. Calvin Williams made his mark early in the game, scoring 10 of the Slammers points in this period. The Cobras were having problems finding their range, completing just 26% of their field goal attempts and managing just one shot from the beyond arc out of 8 tries.
Things looked up for the Cobras in the second quarter as Jai Reyes put himself on the score sheet in a big way, making a field goal following a successful three-pointer to bring the Cobras within one point of the Slammers. The Slammers, however, answered with back-to-back threes from Attaporn Lertmalaiporn and Rexander Leynes with less than two minutes to go till the halftime buzzer to extend their lead to 9 points. Fortunately for the Cobras, the quarter concluded with a couple of fouls called against the Slammers, which sent Marvin Cruz to the line for multiple attempts. He stepped up to the line and calmly converted all his free throws, sending the Cobras into the second half trailing by just 4 points.
Both teams came in firing for the second half of this game and after chasing the lead for most of the third quarter, Ratdech Kruatiwa had the opportunity to send the Cobras into the fourth with a lead, but missed his three-point shot with 0:06 on the clock. The quarter then ended with the Slammers still hanging onto a lead, albeit a small one at 60-58.
Kruatiwa made up for his miss by hitting another trey midway through the fourth that sparked an 11-point run, giving the Cobras their biggest lead at 76-66 with 02:23 remaining. The Slammers were unable to regain control after that.
The Cobras will need to grab a win in their next game against the JobStreet.com Singapore Slingers if they are to stay in the running for a playoffs position.
BKC 83 – George 18, Reyes 18, Kruatiwa 17, Lewis 13, Cruz 11, Klahan 4, Wanna 2
CTS 78 – Garnett 22, Williams 19, Angeles 17, Leynes 6, Lertmalaiporn 5, Apiromvilaichai 4, Pinitpatcharalert 3, Jantuma 2
QS: 15-19, 34-39, 58-60, 83-78
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| Calvin Williams and the Slammers won't be defending their title this season. |
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| Jai Reyes and the Cobras still have some hope of making the ABL playoffs. |
*Game Recaps compiled and compressed from AseanBasketballLeague.com
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