Singapore Indoor Stadium, Sunday, November 14, 2010 — The Singapore Slingers suffered the heartache of an 85-87 double-overtime loss to the Philippine Patriots in the ASEAN Basketball League.

The Slingers got off to a good start, with Leo Avenido again showing the way for the home team as he went 3-for-3 from 3-point range to lead his team to a 24-10 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The Slingers got even further ahead in the second quarter when they led by as many as 19 points, with Marcus Skinner leading the way with seven second quarter points. By the half-time break, the Slingers were up a commanding 40-26, with Skinner and Avenido combining for 26 of those 40 Slinger points. The Patriots were not helped by having Donald Little collect his fourth personal foul in the second quarter and the big man had to sit out.

However, any illusions that the Slingers could beat the league leaders were shattered in the third quarter. The Patriots exploded for a 15-5 run in the first five minutes of the third and brought large sections of their vocal supporters into the game. With Little thrown back into the fray by Patriots head coach Louie Alas, Slingers found themselves outscored 23-13 in the quarter and their once comfortable 19-point lead had shrunk to four at 53-49.

There was an air of inevitability when the Patriots finally took the lead at 6:42 at 56-55 but there were still more twists in the tale to come. Little finally fouled out with 2:29 to go with the Patriots ahead 63-59, leading coach Alas to pound the arena floor in frustration as he contemplated the loss of a 17-rebound performer.

The Patriots then lost more key men in quick succession. First, new import Rasheim Wright hobbled off with a recurrence of a hamstring injury, then Chito Jaime picked up his fifth personal foul and was out of the game.

Skinner made a two-pointer with 37 seconds left and the Slingers trailed only by one at 64-65. Al Vergara then had a splendid chance to win the game for the Slingers with a breakaway layup but his attempt was blocked by Santiago Cabatu. Cabatu then made one of two free throws to reestablish a two-point lead at 66-64 for the Patriots.

The Slingers still had one last chance and they took it. Skinner went to the line for two free throws and when he missed the first one, the stadium held its collective breath, expecting him to miss the next one to give his teammates a chance for a put back. True enough, he missed and a mad scramble ensued for the rebound. Slinger Kyle Jeffers missed the first put back and it was Avenido who grabbed the second opportunity to stick it in to tie the game 66-66 and send it into overtime.

Jeffers tore off his jersey as he celebrated with Avenido and the rest of the Slingers, while the Patriots bench contemplated their second overtime game for the season, their first coming in the victory against the Brunei Barracudas.

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Brunei, Saturday, November 6, 2010 — The Brunei Barracudas worked off the frustration from their blowout loss to the KL Dragons last weekend to hand the league’s best team, the Philippine Patriots, a 71-56 defeat in Round 6 of the ASEAN Basketball League.

This was the first defeat for the Patriots after they had won their opening five games of the season. They fall to 5-1 while the Barracudas improve to 2-4.

The Patriots were all at sea in the first quarter, scoring only two points while Chris Commons, Bryan Faundo and Christopher Garnett of the Barracudas collectively made 16 points.

Thunderous crowd chants together with the Barradrummers amplified the visibly shakened Patriots’ plight. However, with the guidance of Coach Louie Alas, the Patriots rallied back in the second quarter. A huge 3-pointer from Ernesto Billiones coupled with the combined efforts of Chito Jaime, Donald Little and Santiago Cabatu gathered 19 points against the Barracudas 12. The Patriots were quickly learning how to swim in the Barracudas’ sea, trailing only by by seven (21-28) at the half.

The third quarter though was an entirely different story. With deadly intent, Ramsey Williams, wearing jersey number 35 for the Barracudas, delivered 3-pointer upon 3-pointer which even the Patriots’ well-known defensive prowess could not stop. Williams sank three of his four 3-pointers in the third quarter to lead the Barracudas to a 51-36 lead at the end of the third as the Patriots were out-scored 23-15.

The fourth quarter was a see-saw battle with both teams scoring 20 points but their poor first quarter eventually cost the Patriots the game.

The Patriots will need to work on their long range shooting as they only made 3 out of 19 attempts (16%). The In contrast, the Barracudas sank 8 out 28 3-pointers (29%) but the difference between the two teams was in the area of assists, with the Barracudas notching 13, while the Patriots only had six.

Ramsey Williams led with 23 points for the Barracudas while Patriots’ Billiones had 19 points. Donald Little had a double-double, 11-point, 12-rebound showing for the Patriots.

The Barracudas will next entertain the visiting Singapore Slingers (3-3) on Wednesday, November 10th. The Slingers will then return home to welcome the Patriots on Sunday, November 14th.

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By reader Jayson Valencia

Anthony Johnson is out of the Philippine Patriots and in comes Sammy Monroe. The question is — what is the impact of this move with regard to the defending champions’ bid for their second consecutive championship?

So far, we’ve seen that the Patriots are good enough to win games with only one import playing on several occasions. Donald Little is proving to be an asset as far as defense for the Patriots is concerned. And likewise, the locals with the likes of Billiones — otherwise known as “the richest man in the PBA” — are stepping up. (His name literally translates to “billions”.)

However, we’ve seen several near misses and come-from-behind games in the last few matches, which indicates that the Patriots may not get away with their weaknesses any longer. Thus, the Patriots management have found it necessary to let go of Johnson, one of the most prolific scorers in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

To answer our original question on how valuable Sammy Monroe is to the Patriots, it is absolutely necessary to examine his past.

Sammy Monroe is a veteran import of the Barako Bulls team in the PBA. He is the team’s main offensive threat. I’ve seen his name float around forums as one of the best import in the PBA. But, just like Superman, Monroe has his own kryptonite. He is sometimes accused of not only having shaky chemistry with his teammates but also of being a “ball hog”. In his defence though, his stats on team assist says otherwise.

He leads the Barako in points, rebounds, steals and blocks. So, aside from his offensive prowess, the new guy is also a defensive wall. On the negative side, he also leads the stats in turnovers (probably because he handles the ball more than anybody?).

With Sammy Monroe’s addition to the Patriots roster, I think the chances of clinching a second consecutive ABL championship just went up a notch.

For those of you who wants to know more about who the new guy is, below is his profile:

Position: Forward
Height: 1′98(6’7) Weight: 215
Date of birth: 20/02/1985
Birthplace: Jacksonville, NC (USA)
Nationality: USA

Awards/Achievements
All-Region X Second Team as freshman
Led Clinton JC to 22-10 record and Conference Championship
Led team in rebounds (6.5 rpg) and blocks (1.0 bpg) junior season
Second on team in points (14.2 ppg) as junior
Scored 20 points or more six times and posted four double-doubles junior season
Selected by Sioux Falls Skyforce in 9th round (118th overall) of 2007 NBDL Draft
2009 PBL All-Playoff Team
2009 PBL Playoff Co-MVP

Sammy Monroe Acrobatic Shot vs. Aces Defender

Manila, Saturday, October 30, 2010 — The visiting Satria Muda led at the end of each of the first three quarters but could not finish off the Philippine Patriots as they succumbed 69-75 to the unbeaten league leaders.

The Patriots are a perfect 5-0 for this second ASEAN Basketball League season while Satria Muda are 1-4 and find themselves propping up the six-team league.

The Patriots’ head coach was still not satisfied with what he saw.

“We played inconsistently. We had a lousy practice during the week, but I told the players they can’t just come into a game and play. They have to earn victory,” coach Alas was quoted as saying by the Jakarta Globe.

Hampered by a domestic ruling that prevents them from fielding the same player in two concurrent tournaments, Satria Muda have been forced to go with a lean team in the ABL while competing at the same time in the Indonesian Basketball League. As a result, the Jakarta club are beginning to resemble the Brunei Barracudas from the first season.

Satria Muda played only with a seven-man roster, with imports Mario Wuysang (37:03), Marcus Morrison (40:00), Francis Adriano (38:35), Celedon Camaso (31:35), Antoine Broxsie (40:00) playing the bulk of the game. Doni Ristanto (8:16), Robert Sanz (0:29) and Fattah Arifin (4:22) contributed minimally. Sanz is a replacement for fellow Filipino Ronald Capati who was dropped.

Satria Muda’s Marcus Morrison had a game-high 35 points while pulling down 10 rebounds. His teammate Mario Wuysang was also in double digits with 13 points.

Ernesto Billiones led the Patriots with 20 points while his teammate Donald Little contributed a double-double with 11 points and 19 rebounds.

Trailing by six (53-59) at the start of the fourth quarter, the Patriots tied it up at 63-63 with 4:06 to go. A 12-6 run as the clock wound down secured them victory in a fourth quarter where the scored a total of 22 points while limiting Satria Muda to only 10.

Satria Muda will return home to Jakarta to entertain the KL Dragons (3-2) on Wednesday, November 3rd while the Patriots visit the Brunei Barracudas (1-4) on Saturday, November 6th.

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Bangkok, Saturday, October 23, 2010 — The Thailand Slammers saw their unbeaten record disappear as they went down 48-54 to the visiting Philippine Patriots in the ASEAN Basketball League.

It was a game between the two remaining unbeaten teams in the league and the Slammers certainly missed the scoring of Chris Kuete who has averaged 25 points in the first three games of the season. Kuete is sidelined with an injury sustained in a collision with Satria Muda’s Marcus Morrison in the previous weekend.

It was the Slammers who set the pace, taking a 13-6 lead into a second quarter where they led by as many as 10 points before the Patriots trimmed the deficit back down to five at the half at 29-24.

The Slammers continued to keep their noses in front in the third, with their highest lead at no more than six points in a low-scoring quarter that saw the Slammers put up nine to the Patriots’ 11.

The Patriots finally drew level when Warren Ybanez sank a three-pointer with 6:00 to go to level it 40-40. Ernesto Billiones then gave the Patriots their first lead in a long while with a field goal to make it 42-40 but Froilan Baguion sank a three-pointer with 4:02 to go for the Slammers to lead by one (43-42).

Anthony Johnson then sank a go-ahead three-pointer for the Patriots to lead 45-43 and they never trailed again. Johnson contributed eight points and one steal in the final three and half minutes as the Patriots went on a 9-2 run to seal the victory.

The Slammers fall to 1-3 while the Patriots improve their win-loss record to a league-leading 4-0.

The Slammers will now travel to face the Singapore Slingers next Sunday, October 31st while the Patriots will entertain Satria Muda at home on Saturday, October 30th.

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The Barracudas (yellow) almost beat the Patriots in regulation time but fell short in overtime. (Photo courtesy of ABL)

Brunei, Saturday, October 16, 2010 — The Brunei Barracudas saw a six-point lead with 26 seconds to go in regulation time disappear when Santiago Jr Cabatu sank two consecutive three-pointers to even things up at 61-61 at the buzzer. In overtime, the Barracudas were outscored 11-6 and lost their first ASEAN Basketball League home game 67-72.

The Patriots led by as many as 10 points early in the fourth quarter but the Barracudas tied it up with a Chester Tolomia three-pointer at 55-55 with 4:40 to go.

The Barracudas then kept their noses in front of the Patriots and with less than a minute to go, established a five-point, 60-55 lead on the back of two Williams Ramsey free throws. Another Chris Commons free throw with 24 seconds left gave them a six-point, 61-55 lead but the Patriots replied with Cabatu’s two three-pointers to push the game into overtime.

The Patriots jumped out in front in overtime and led by four at 65-61. The Barracudas tied it up at 67-67 via another Tolomia three-pointer but it was Patriots all the way after that.

Chris Commons led the Barracudas with a double-double, 17-point, 11-rebound performance. Four Barracudas were in double-figures — Commons (17), Tolomia (15), Bryan Faundo (14), Ramsey (14).

They were matched by the Patriots, with Cabatu (16), Ernesto Billiones (14), Donald Little (14) and Benedict III Fernandez (11) in double figures as well. Little also had a double-double with his 13 rebounds.

The win was the Patriots’ third consecutive and they have a spotless 3-0 win-loss record while the luckless Barracudas fall to 0-3.

The Patriots will next play the unbeaten Thailand Slammers in a top-of-the-table clash while the Barracudas will get on a plane to visit Satria Muda in Jakarta.

Pasig City, Saturday, October 9, 2010 — The Philippine Patriots beat the visiting Singapore Slingers 62-59 to secure their second win of the ASEAN Basketball League regular season.

The weakened Patriots, playing without Alex Crisano and American import Anthony Johnson because of injuries, pulled through, with Junjun Cabatu scoring the last five points to secure the win.

Cabatu hit a three-pointer with 64 seconds left that gave them a 60-56 lead and even though Slingers’ Al Vergara replied with a trey of his own to reduce the deficit to just one, Cabatu had another answer with a drive to stretch the Patriots lead to 62-59 with 31 seconds on the clock. Slingers rookie Ng Han Bin had a chance to draw level but he could not execute a three-point play.

“Our defense held on especially in the last four possessions. We played much better defensively than the last time out and our locals stepped up,” said Patriots head coach on the official ABL website.

Filipinos Benedict Fernandez and Egay Billiones led the Patriots with 12 and 11 points respectively while their import Donald Little had did not have his best game with 11 turnovers while amassing seven points and nine rebounds.

The Slingers got out to a good start, leading by as much as 10 in the first quarter. Their biggest lead in the second half was seven points and had a slim one-point, 53-52 lead late in the game before Cabatu’s heriocs.

Slinger Leo Avenido led all scoring with 15 points while his teammates Marcus Skinner and Kyle Jeffers had 12 and 10 points.

The Patriots go to a 2-0 win-loss record after their opening weekend win over the Brunei Barracudas while the Slingers are now 1-1, their sole win so far coming over Satria Muda at home last week.

The Patriots will play their first away game of the season against the Barracudas on Saturday, October 16th while the Slingers will entertain the KL Dragons at home on Sunday, October 17th.

Pasig City, Saturday, October 2, 2010 — A new-look Philippine Patriots started off slowly but eventually triumphed 71-62 over the visiting Brunei Barracudas on the opening day of the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL).

The Patriots nearly squandered a 12-point lead when the Barracudas went on a scoring spree in the final period but former University of Santo Tomas star Allen Maliksi rose to the occasion to help the team weather the late Barracudas charge.

Maliksi provided the killing blow for the squad co-owned by Harbour Centre boss Mikee Romero and Tony Boy Cojuangco by hitting a huge basket before completing a three-point play.

Those baskets enabled the defending champions to pull away for good to the delight of the crowd.

The win likewise enabled the Patriots to forge a three-way tie for the early lead with the Thailand Slammers and the Singapore Slingers.

The Slammers, behind reinforcements Chris Kuete and former Patriots import Jason Dixon, defeated the KL Dragons in overtime, 79-74, last Saturday while the Slingers edged past last year’s runner-up Satria Muda BritAma of Indonesia, 94-93, also last night.

“We we’re very sluggish defensively. We were up by 12 points (43-31 in the third quarter) and suddenly it became a one-point lead,” said Patriots head coach Louie Alas. “We still don’t have the desire to play defense. Like I told them earlier, don’t make this into a showcase.” 


The Patriots survived a gallant showing by the Barracudas, powered by the massive heft of the bulky Chris Garnett who finished with 23 points and nine rebounds in a no-relief showing.

Anthony Johnson registered a game-high 24 points and 12 rebounds while dishing out three assists in 36 minutes of action. He helped the Patriots take a commanding lead in the second quarter highlighted by two breakaway dunks to take a 39-31 lead at the half.

His partner, 6-foot-11 center Donald Little, overcame a sluggish debut in the paint to finish with 11 points, eight rebounds and two blocks. Alas hopes to see a better showing from him when they battle the Singapore Slingers on Saturday at the same venue.

Ex-pro Junjun Cabatu led all locals in scoring by making all of his nine points in the first quarter as he helped the Patriots overcome a poor start to grab a slim 21-20 advantage.

Also providing the spark were Erwin Sta Maria with nine points and three boards, fellow holdover from last season’s title squad in Warren Ybanez who had three points, five rebounds and six assists and big man Chito Jaime with three points and six boards.

Chris Commons had 15 points, 15 rebounds, six assists and three steals, ex-Letran Knight Bryan Faundo made 11 points and 13 boards and guard Kevin White chipped in 10 markers for the Barracudas.

Scoring by Quarters
Patriots vs Barracudas
1st Q: 21-20
2nd Q: 18-11 (39-31)
3rd Q: 15-16 (54-47)
4th Q: 17-15 (71-62)

Patriots 71 – Johnson 24, Little 11, Cabatu 9, Sta Maria 9, Billones 5, Maliksi 5, Ybanez 3, Jaime 3, Fernandez 2, Salangsang 0, Sta Cruz 0, Alcaraz 0.

Barracudas 62 – Garnett 23, Commons 15, Faundo 11, White 10, Tan 3, Tolomia 0, Fong 0, Suhaili 0, Lim 0.

Ed’s note: Full box scores are not available because the organisers said the system went down.

Patriots coach Louie Alas. (Photo © Koh Yizhe/Red Sports)

The imperious Philippine Patriots swept Satria Muda BritAma 3-0 in the recently concluded ASEAN Basketball League best-of-five finals.

As the team winds down after a six-month campaign, what would you like to know about the Patriots?

Red Hoops will be getting in touch with coach Louie Alas for his thoughts on his campaign and would like you to jump in with your questions for him.

Just drop your question in the comments section and we’ll make sure it’s part of our set of questions for the winning coach.

Thanks.

Though the winning team of the inaugural ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) hailed from basketball powerhouse Philippines, both the coaches of Satria Muda BritAma and the Philippine Patriots asserted that it was the imports that separated the two sides and gave Patriots the victory.

“The imports [would] make the difference to how successful the team will be,” said both coach Louis Alas of the Patriots and coach Fictor Roring of Satria Muda unanimously after Game 3 of the ABL finals series where Patriots beat Satria Muda 75-67 to lift the league’s maiden title.

Despite a rousing start in the first period, where Satria Muda seized an early lead, Satria Muda’s American import Nakiea Miller suffered an eye injury caused by Patriot Jerwin Gaco half-way through the first period and this disrupted the hosts’ scoring momentum. Even though the 6-foot-10 American was reintroduced into the game in the second period, his role was relegated to just that of a scarecrow.

“I had to take Nakiea out for five to 10 minutes after he went down and even when he got back he was having problems with his vision,” coach Roring told Red Hoops. “But I told him to just stand there, the rest of the players will feel more confident just knowing he’s on the court.”

“But to beat Patriots, that was not enough. We need Nakiea,” coach Roring said matter-of-factly. As it was, Miller scored only three points in the first half courtesy of the sole 3-pointer before he was wounded, and he found the basket only twice in the second half.

While Miller finished with 13 points and seven rebounds, his usual partner-in-crime Alex Hartman, who completed the inaugural season as the league’s top scorer with 378 points (18 points per game), contributed only 14 points on Sunday and blamed himself for shooting poorly.

“But to be honest, I am feeling tired,” said the 25-year-old who holds both Canadian and American citizenship. He let out that he has never felt such strain in the previous ABL games. “My team really needed me to push the ball in this game because our point guards were struggling and I think that took a lot out of me.”

“Hartman can definitely do better than this just as he has done so in Singapore during the playoffs but it’s because Freeman limited him in the finals,” said coach Roring. “But despite that, I think my locals have been able to play well not just in this game but in the last few games too – and also not only Rony – Prihantono and Youbel all stepped up too.”

30-year-old Rony Gunawan completed a hat-trick of stellar performance in the ABL finals by finishing as the top scorer of his team in the third game with 20 points and seven rebounds. Rony was coach Roring’s MVP for this game, though the Indonesian coach picked Miller as his MVP for this season because of his all-round contribution throughout the season.

In the regular season, Miller topped the score boards in points per game, rebounds and blocks, and he was second in turnovers and third in steals.

“But I’m still pleased with my two imports on the whole,” coach Roring said. “It’s hard to play against Patriots who have three imports (counting Fil-Am Rob Wainwright). Dixon killed us, Freeman’s rebounds, Wainwright’s 3-pointers. It’s hard to beat a team with imports like that.”

In Jakarta, Patriots released a living demon in the frame of American Jason Dixon, who top-scored with his season high of 28 points and also set a new personal best this season with his 59.1 shooting percentage.

Patriots import, Gabriel Freeman, who has been the man to watch since joining the league late in the season, finished the final game with 17 points, though with a personal low in shooting percentage of 22%. The versatile forward however dominated the boards with 19 rebounds.

“When you have a big man like Dixon who’s so dominant, it takes the load off my shoulder,” said Freeman. “Because I won’t have to enforce myself as much, and when he’s down, I can enforce myself. It’s vice versa for both of us. We take the load off each other’s shoulder.”

“This game I played ok, I missed a lot of shots I would normally make,” said Freeman, who was limited to only six points in the first half. “I think I played my game in the second half, I went in a little bit more and was focused on the defense, I got going on the defense, that’s what I do.”

“My focus wasn’t really all out on Alex in this game,” Freeman added, “but at the same time, I’m a defensive player, so when I come into a game I’m going to be play defense but I still got to put points up. I think as a team we were more organised, we were more prepared. We were intense in the defense and the offense, we weren’t making a lot of shots but we were just up and that’s what won the game for us.”

25-year-old Freeman believed that being able to play with both the locals and with the fellow import is the difference an import has to make for his team. This he has done since coming on board to replaced Brandon Powell to rescue Patriots from a slump just before the playoffs.

Expounding on the difference he made for Patriots, Freeman said: “In a big way I did [make a difference] because Patriots have a big man, you have to play along with your big man and I personally don’t think the import that was previously here could do it.”

“When you’ve got a big guy, you play through your big guy,” Freeman said of the importance of the imports working with each other. “I’m not going to take shots away from him. I’m going to get him shots, I’m going to work around him, do everything around him. I’m going to make sure he touches the ball, I’m going to make sure I play defense for him.”

“And you know what, it’s really about how the imports play with the locals, whether they know how to play with their locals,” Freeman said in response to what would make a team successful in this league and especially to narrow the gap between the teams.

Likewise, Satria Muda’s Hartman also echoed that Miller replacing Theo Little in November 2009 was a spark for the Indonesians. But unlike Patriots, who have immediately expressed their interest to keep their imports, Satria Muda remain ambivalent.

“Based on the finals, I feel that it will be hard to defeat the Patriots with my current team,” said Satria Muda’s head coach Roring. “I will need more ‘bullets’, players who are sharp. There is still time to prepare work on this before the next season starts, so I will have to evaluate the current team before deciding whether to make changes to the team.”

Satria Muda’s top-scoring import Alex Hartman has revealed that he has a trial with the Boston Celtics coming up. In the meantime, he has rushed back to the United States as his grandfather is not well.

“Right now I’m just going to go home, rest, and do some training for the little kids while doing some of my own,” Hartman said, “I just got to get ready for the trials. We’ll see what happens. But now I’ve just got to take a break. Take three weeks off and just relax, get back my legs, no lifting, no shooting. We all need a break sometimes.”

No such dramas for Patriots’ Gabe Freeman though, who will start up with the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) in a fortnight’s time, and the question at the back of everyone’s mind is whether this ball of energy will return to the ABL next season.

Making a comparison between ABL and PBA, Freeman said: “The ABL is totally different because they actually play! It’s contact. PBA is touchy-touch, feely-feel, but ABL literally gets down and dirty, which is what most players like to play and that’s what keeps the game going. But it does get out of control sometimes but that’s part of basketball.”

“I would love to play in both leagues,” he said. “The ABL is amongst the best league I’ve played in judging from the talent level, and we won it, it feels good to be on top. It goes different on money level [between both leagues] but for me it’s not about the money, it’s about the basketball.”

When asked if he will consider playing for a different team in the ABL, Freeman said in front of his coach Louie Alas and team owner Mikee Romero: “I wouldn’t have a reason not to come back here. I’ve got a great coach, great players, my other import Jason Dixon is great.”

“They brought me in and they have done what they are supposed to do, I’ve done what I’m supposed to do,” Freeman continued and made known that beyond the basketball, integrity is just as important. “So I’m going no where, I’m here to stay. I’m loyal to who’s loyal to me.”