Minus Brownlee, Alab whips Saigon

MANILA, Philippines — Even without Justin Brownlee, Alab Pilipinas still got the job done, a 99-79 trashing of bottom-ranked Saigon Heat, to get back on track in the ASEAN Basketball League last Sunday at the Sta. Rosa Multi-Purpose Complex in Laguna.

Other world imports Sam Deguara and Nick King took matters into their own hands, coming away with huge double-digit outputs for the Philippine contingent, which bounced back from a tough 90-82 loss to Malaysia last Wednesday.

Deguara racked up 23 points and eight rebounds while King posted 20-15-7 as the San Miguel-backed franchise improved to 10-6 to fortify its hold of second spot behind pace-setting Mono Vampire (12-4).

Lawrence Domingo (18-6) and Jason Brickman (10-9) also stepped up to fill the void left by Brownlee, whose Alab return got foiled for the second time around.

Brownlee was supposed to stage his Alab comeback last Wednesday against the Westports Malaysia Dragons but was a no-show after missing his flight from from Los Angeles.