Tanduay Alab Pilipinas collected its fifth win of the season by putting away the CLS Knights Indonesia, 92-87, on Saturday at GOR CLS Kertajaya.
Justin Brownlee had his best scoring game in the ABL so far with 36 points on an amazing 15-for-24 shooting clip. He was wax hot in the first quarter, putting up 18 points and four triples. He also ended up with 8 rebounds, 7 assists, and 3 steals.
Renaldo Balkman meanwhile had a double-double performance of 17 points and 13 rebounds. Ray Parks added 14 points and Dondon Hontiveros provided a ton of energy from the Alab bench, scoring five points.
Alab got off to a great start thanks to Brownlee’s hot shooting. However, Sandy Kurniawan kept the Knights in the game with his second quarter scoring spree.
It was anybody’s ball game up until the final period when Alab simply took over. Hontiveros knocked down a momentum-changing three-pointer to give the Philippines a five-point edge early in the quarter. Alab would go on to score the next seven points to establish an 83-71 lead under five minutes remaining.
The Knights struggled to keep instep with Alab, missing a ton of shots in the last half of the payoff period. A jumper by Ray Parks gave the visiting team a 14-point lead with three minutes left.
Alab shot 48 percent from the field and went 11-for-29 from downtown. They were also able to outmuscle the Knights in the shaded area, earning 40 inside points.
Decorey Jones tomahawked a dunk to cap off a quick 7-0 run by the Knights in the dying moments of the game but their effort was a little too late. Despite playing one of their better outings this season, they still faltered in the end. The Knights have now suffered their seventh straight loss for a 1-7 record.
Brian Williams tallied 22 points and 14 rebounds in the losing effort. Kurniawan did all he could with his outside shooting as he notched 19 points, including five triples.
The Knights will try to end their slump when they go up against the Hong Kong Eastern Basketball Team on Wednesday.
