Tanduay Alab Pilipinas will be looking for their third straight win as they go up against the Singapore Slingers on January 7, 2018, at the OCBC Arena in Singapore.
The last time the two teams met, the Slingers took the 97-83 road victory with Xavier Alexander notching a triple-double of 27 points, 11 rebounds, and 12 assists. The Slingers enjoyed a lead as high as 20 points as Alab struggled throughout the game.
With that previous win, the Slingers are now 5-2 against Alab Pilipinas in these two seasons.
This time around however, Alab is coming in with new reinforcements. Over the holidays, they replaced Reggie Okosa and Ivan Johnson with two new World Imports in Renaldo Balkman and Justin Brownlee.
Balkman and Brownlee had rousing debuts to help Alab put away the Westports Malaysia Dragons, 90-79, in their last game. Brownlee tallied 29 points, 7 rebounds, 8 assists, 3 steals, and 2 blocks. Equally impressive was Balkman who had 17 points and 11 boards.
“It’s great man, the team is a great team, great group of guys. They went out there and played hard,” Brownlee shared about his new teammates.
Alab may have found two new imports, but the Slingers tapped a familiar face in the ABL to help them in their 2017-2018 campaign.
Two-time World Import MVP Christien Charles will make his ABL return, this time suiting up for the Slingers. Besides being league MVP, Charles also earned Defensive Player of the Year honors twice. In his ABL career, the 7’0” center has become the league’s all-time leader in blocks with 259, as well as the single-season record holder with 96 rejections. He is a seasoned veteran that can give a huge boost to the Slingers.
Charles replaced Ryan Wright who was averaging 20.3 points and 13.4 rebounds. Wright was certainly no pushover during his stint with the Slingers, but Charles offers a longer and bigger defensive option.
With new faces on each side, it’s anybody’s ball game when the Slingers and Alab collide.
