PHL Patriots down Indonesia for 5th win

Playing minus injured import Anthony Johnson for the third time was not a problem for the Philippine Patriots as the defending champions pulled off a 75-69 win over Indonesia's Satria Muda BritAma on Saturday in the AirAsia ASEAN Basketball League Season 2.

Trailing for three quarters, at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City, the Patriots leaned on the combined efforts of Egay Billones, Benedict Fernandez and reinforcement Donald Little to register their fifth straight win in as many games to solidify their hold of the top spot. The loss dropped BritAma at the cellar of the six-nation tournament at 1-4. The Patriots fell behind by eight points late in the third quarter, 59-51, but the trio buried clutch baskets at the start of the payoff period to revitalize the team’s offense. After a long, hard chase, the Patriots grabbed a slim 64-63 lead before Billones sparked a telling 6-1 assault that put them on top for good, 70-64, with only 51.5 seconds left. Johnson did not suit up again after he re-injured his hamstring during the team’s 54-48 win over the Chang Thailand Slammers. But the Louie Alas-coached squad held their ground against high-scoring Indonesian import Marcus Morrison. The Patriots' win, however, did not sit well with Alas. "We again played inconsistent, especially on defense. We had an irregular showing, it seems that everyone wants to get the basketball and no one wants to go down on defense," said Alas. "I admit that we had a lousy practice the whole week and I told them before the game that 'you think they'll just come here to play, you have to bring it on'," added Alas. Billones, who came in after Warren Ybanez injured his right ankle in the second half, scored 10 in the final period to finish with a game-high 20 points on 7-of-17 shooting while Little endured a bruising battle in the paint with Morrison to finish with 11 points, 25 rebounds and two blocks. Fernandez scored 12 points after making 4-of-7 from the field while adding three boards and four assists but his best contribution was providing solid defense against Indonesian guard Mario Wuysang. Wuysang, the only player left from Satria's Muda team that lost to the Patriots in last year's finals, had 13 points in the first three quarters but went scoreless in the fourth. Morrison paced Indonesia with 32 points but was hardly a factor in the last minutes for Satria Muda, which sported a black patch in memory of the victims of last week's tsunami and volcano eruption in the Mentawai Islands. – JVP, GMANews.TV