By Kevin Estrada
Jason Brickman finally broke away from his usual passing game to hit the biggest shots of the game as San Miguel Alab Pilipinas ended their season series with Thailand’s Mono Vampire on level footing after a thrilling 100-92 overtime victory last Thursday evening at the latter’s Stadium 29 in Nothanburi.
Well known from his stint with the 2018 finalists, Brickman torched his former team as he flirted with a triple double for the visitors, who nearly wasted their comeback after coming from sixteen points down but got their poise in time in the extra session to go third in the standings at 7-4, as they alternate wins and losses in the month of January.
Averaging 7.4 points per contest heading into their final showdown with the league leaders, Brickman fired for a game-high 32 points as he hit 78% from the field, including 5/8 from beyond the arc and was just two rebounds and two assists short of the accomplishment.
Nick King added 26 and former Mono slotman Sam Deguara had a double-double of 18 points and 16 rebounds to compensate with Prince Williams’ sudden slump, who only had 3 points after firing for 23 in his home debut in Caloocan last Sunday.
Alab had to climb out of a 57-73 hole early in the fourth by launching a 27-6 blast with Brickman fired a trio of long bombs, the last of which cap off an 11-0 run that gave them an 84-79 lead with 56.2 seconds left.
But Mono fought back and responded with two straight triples by Preston Knowles and Mike Singletary, the last gave them the equalizer at 85 with 3. 8 second remaining.
However, it was all Alab in overtime as they pounced on the graduation of Michael Morrison in the last 3:17 as they fired a 9-0 run to break the final deadlock at 88 for a huge away win.
The Scores:
ALAB PILIPINAS 100 — Brickman 32, King 26, Deguara 18, Gray 8, Vigil 6, Williams 3, Heading 2, Ganuelas-Rosser 0, Caracut 0.
MONO VAMPIRE 92 — Singletary 25, Knowles 24, Lamb 20, Morgan 11, Morrison 9, Lish 3, Boonserm 0, Chanthachon 0, Saengtong 0, Ananti 0.
Quarter scores: 17-26, 38-40, 55-70, 85-85 (reg.), 100-92 (OT)
Follow the writer on Twitter: @kevinlestrada
