San Miguel Alab Pilipinas remained in the running for the coveted outright semifinals berth with their dominating 101-63 win over the CLS Knights Indonesia on Sundayat the Sta. Rosa Arena in the Philippines.
Currently in third place with a 14-6 card, Alab remains in-step with Chong Son Kung Fu Basketball Club and Hong Kong Eastern Basketball Team. They now await for the final regular season game between the two league-leaders to determine their final seeding. They have to hope that the defending champions take care of business at home so they can enter the top two spots.
Alab did their part by routing the Knights in their home court. Paolo Javelona earned AirAsia Player of the Game honors by posting 18 points, including four-three pointers. The seldom-used guard also did his work on the glass, tallying 10 rebounds. Pamboy Raymundo also provided a ton of firepower off the bench with his output of 20 points.
The home team wasted little time as they established a 28-18 lead after the opening quarter. They continued to pour it on in the second with reigning Local MVP scoring 16 of his 19 points by halftime.
For the Knights, their pair of World Imports tried to carry the offensive load in their last game of the season. Shane Edwards finished with 21 points and 7 rebounds while Brian Williams, the walking double-double machine of the Knights, tallied 17 points and 12 boards.
Despite the strong showing of Edwards and Williams, the Alab lead proved too insurmountable. The outcome was practically decided with under four minutes remaining after a Raymundo lay-up pushed the lead to 33 points.
Williams also succeed in reaching 1,000 points in his ABL career. His stint with the Knights is his third team after playing with the Westports Malaysia Dragons and the San Miguel Beermen.
The Philippine squad shot 56 percent from the field while holding the Knights to just 35 percent, including 3-for-25 from beyond the arc. Alab also shared the ball with ease, racking up 25 assists.
As Alab waits for the dust to settle between Hong Kong and Chong Son, CLS finished their season with five wins and 15 losses.
The 38-point deficit is a season-high in the ABL.
