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ABL: Patriots complete semis sweep of Dragons


The Philippine Patriots earned the first finals berth in the ASEAN Basketball League thanks to 6-foot-9 import Jason Dixon and its resilient defense. The Louie Alas-coached Patriots came back from 16 points down to escape with a 70-65 decision and wrap up their short semifinals series against the Kuala Lumpur Dragons on Wednesday at the MABA Gym in Malaysia.

"We were very complacent in the first half. Luckily, we were able to talk to ourselves at halftime that we must keep our toughness on the defensive end and I guest that was the story of the game," said Alas, who will have to wait between Singapore and Indonesia for their finals opponent after Satria Muda forced a deciding Game 3 with a 74-45 rout of the Slingers in their own semis series. Still down by five (55-50), after three quarters, the Patriots pressed on with their attack and kept the Dragons scoreless for more than three minutes. A Rob Wainwright three-pointer and Gabe Freeman jumper touched off a 10-0 blast as the Patriots took a 60-55 advantage midway in the final canto. The Dragons came charging back with Chris Kuete’s split free throw tying the count at 63-all, 3:38 left in the clock that brought wild cheers to the home crowd. But Dixon took charge for the Philippine quintet and scored the Patriots’ final seven points to preserve the win. Dixon finished with 22 points behind an 11-of-12 free throw shooting and grabbed 11 rebounds while Freeman, despite a 25 percent clip from the field (7-of-28), scored 17 to go with his 12 boards.
Kuete paced the Dragons’ losing effort with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Malaysia had a better shooting percentage than Philippines as the Dragons made 42 percent (29-of-68) compared to the Patriots’ 31 percent (29-of-90). But the Patriots forced the Dragons to 15 turnovers and enjoyed a 10-4 edge in offensive rebounds. The winner of the Singapore-Indonesia semis series will earn the right of facing the Patriots in the best-of-five finals where the first two games will be hosted by the Philippines on Feb. 12 and 17. – GMANews.TV
The scores RP Patriots 70 – Dixon 22, Freeman 17, Alcaraz 7, Wainwright 6, Gaco 6, Ybanez 5, Coronel 5, Sta Maria 2, Acuna 0, Baclao 0. KL Dragons 65 – Kuete 20, Lingganay 13, Loh 12, Brown 11, Hugnatan 7, Wee 0, Ng 0, Koh 0, Chee 0. Quarter scores: 13-22, 32-40, 50-55, 70-65.
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