Patriots rally to overrun Indons

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Patriots battled back from eight points down in the third quarter and fashioned out a 75-69 victory over Indonesia’s Satria Muda BritAma to stretch its win run to five in the AirAsia ASEAN Basketball League Season 2 at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City last Saturday.

Egay Billones, Benedict Fernandez and import Donald Little took over in the fourth quarter as the Patriots continued to buck the absence of Anthony Johnson to turn back the Indonesians.

The Patriots fell behind by eight points late in the third period, 51-59, but Billones, Fernandez and Little came through with clutch baskets, keying the hosts’ fightback.

The Patriots took the lead at 64-63 before Billones sparked another 6-1 run that pulled them away at 70-64, with only 51.5 seconds left in the contest.

Johnson failed to suit up again after he re-injured his hamstring during the team’s 54-48 win over the Chang Thailand Slammers last week. But the Patriots held their ground against the high-scoring Indonesian import in Marcus Morrison in a duel of last year’s finalists.

The win was the Patriots’ fifth straight as they firmed up their hold of the lead while dealing BritAma its fourth loss against a lone win in the six-nation tournament.

“We again played inconsistent, especially on defense. It seems that everyone wants to get the basketball and no one wants to go down on defense,” said Patriots coach Louie Alas.

Billones scored 10 points in the final period to finish with a game-high 20 points on 7-of-17 shooting while Little made 11 points, 25 rebounds and two shot blocks.

Fernandez scored 12 points after making 4-of-7 from the field while adding three rebounds and four assists.