By Ivan Stewart Saldajeno | PNA
MANILA — Alab Pilipinas was dethroned as ASEAN Basketball League champion on Wednesday night after the Eastern Long Lions completed a 2-0 sweep of its best-of-three quarterfinal series with a 102-84 Game 2 win at the Southorn Stadium in Hong Kong.
The Long Lions unleashed a 16-1 run late in the first quarter to overcome Alab’s hot start before going on a 31-14 second quarter to spark the blowout.
Marcus Elliott fired 29 points with eight rebounds and four assists for seventh-seeded Eastern, which will face the winner of the Singapore Slingers-Macau Black Bears series in the next round.
O’Darien Bassett added 28 points, 15 assists, five rebounds, three steals, and one block, while Mike Holyfield had his own double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds on top of three blocks.
PJ Ramos made 21 markers, 13 boards, and five dimes for second-seeded Alab, which ended the season with six straight losses.
Elsewhere, eighth-seeded Mono Vampire completed its own quarterfinal upset of top-seeded Formosa with a 70-68 win at the Stadium 29 in Nonthaburi, Thailand while Saigon forced a rubber match in its own quarterfinal series against CLS with an 86-81 victory at the CIS Arena in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam.
