Cebu City, Philippines—The reigning champions San Miguel Alab Pilipinas will make their way to Cebu for the start of the ASEAN Basketball League playoffs, hoping the southern sojourn will turn things around for their suddenly struggling campaign.
The Alab, the tournament’s second seed, will be taking on seventh-seeded Hong Kong Eastern in Game 1 of the best-of-three quarterfinals series on Friday, March 29, 2019, at the Hoops Dome in Lapu-Lapu City.
The seedings were finalized after the conclusion of the ABL games on Sunday, March 24, 2019.
The Alab squad that will be arriving here in Cebu is one that is looking for a spark as it lost its fourth straight game on Sunday, after losing to the Saigon Heat, 81-80, in its final elimination game of the season at the CIS Arena in Vietnam.
Alab dropped to 18-8 (win-loss) but will head to the playoffs as the two-seed after it was overtaken by the Formosa Dreamers.
Renaldo Balkman, fresh from the sidelines after recovering from a concussion, fired in 25 points, eight rebounds, and two assists, while Bobby Ray Parks put up 16 points, two rebounds, and two assists. Brandon Rosser also returned to the court for Alab with 14 points and eight rebounds but it was not enough to snap the team’s losing slump. /bmjo