The last time Alab Pilipinas faced the Saigon Heat, head coach McC Cuan called out his entire team for their lackluster effort and consistency as they lost, 78-74.
Val Acuna heeded the challenge, dropping an ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) career-high of 23 points on a red-hot 7-of-12 shooting from beyond three-point line to lead Alab to a 74-70 road victory Friday, March 3 at the CIS Arena in Ho Chi Minh City.
Acuna, who has shown the ability to knock down big shots throughout his basketball career, kept Alab in the driver’s seat against the resilient Heat for most of the match with his timely outside shots as the Philippine crew salvaged a split in the two teams’ regular season head-to-head series.
And the wing man wasn’t alone in doing damage for Alab. Sampson Carter finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds while Lawrence Domingo just narrowly missed a double-double with 11 points and 9 boards.
Alab improved to 9-6 with the win, snapping a two-game losing skid while also stopping Saigon’s two-game winning streak. The Heat fell to 5-9.
“We just had to dig deep. I challenged my players. I also adjusted with my starting line-up because the last time, my starters came out flat. I shuffled it a little bit and good thing, Acuna stepped up,” Cuan said.
Cuan inserted Acuna and Domingo in the starting line-up along with Carter, Ray Parks, and James Hughes. The result was Alab jumping out of the gates with an 11-2 start as Acuna scored eight quick points including two triples.
But the Heat were quick to negate that, staying aggressive in getting to the basket to cut the deficit down to 11-10.
The visitors responded even better though, with Carter taking charge in the second quarter to push Alab ahead by as much as 12 before the halftime break.
Acuna picked up from where he left off in the second half then, drilling another long-range shot which made it 50-37.
Still, the Heat found a way to storm back into the game as Moses Morgan scored 11 straight points in a 13-2 run to pull within two, 52-50 in the third quarter.
From there, it was a frenetic back-and-forth duel for both sides. A driving lay-up by Ray Parks increased the gap to 66-59 early in the final period, but the Heat kept staying in the game.
A Lenny Daniel slam followed by a three from Horace Phuc Tam Nguyen once again narrowed the Alab cushion. A split from Daniel later made it just a one-point game, but Acuna unleashed his final outside shot when Alab needed it the most, beating the shot clock to make it 69-65 with under three minutes to go.
“I’m just thankful for the trust and confidence my teammates are giving to me. I saw the shot clock winding down and I did not hesitate to take that shot,” Acuna said of the dagger three.
Hughes came up with two key offensive boards in the dying moments of the game as well, including one leading to a put-back to ice the game, 71-65. He led Alab in rebounding with 13 including 7 coming from the offensive end.
“I just reminded them how we got the lead in the first half. It was by getting stops and playing defense. We forgot about that for a while but we got back at it, and we were able to hold them off,” Cuan said.
“I just had to mix it up (defensively), going to a man and a zone to confuse them. I tried both to keep them guessing.”
Daniel led the Heat with another superhuman effort of 22 points, 20 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks but the rest of the team’s usual leaders struggled from the field.
Morgan had 14 points but shot 6-of-20 from the field. David Arnold (12 points) was 4-of-13 while Jordan Henriquez (9 points) was 3-of-10. The entire squad shot 37% and worse, missed half of their free throw attempts (12-of-24).
The loss cut the Heat’s lead over the Kaohsiung Truth (5-10) in the team standings to just half a game.
Alab will be back at home to host the Westports Malaysia Dragons on Sunday, March 5, at the Sta. Rosa Arena in Laguna. The Heat, meanwhile, will travel to Singapore to face the Slingers on the same day at the OCBC Arena.
