Patriots 72-53 Satria Muda

The Philippine Patriots have put themselves within touching distance of the inaugural ASEAN Basketball League championship.

A resounding 72-53 victory over Satria Muda Britama in Game 2 of the grand finals at the Fil Oil Flying V Arena, Manila have seen them leading the odds.

Patriots coach Louis Alas had called for a more sustained defensive effort and got it this time, holding the Indonesian champions to just 53 points.

With a 2-0 lead, the series now shifts to Jakarta where Satria Muda will be hoping that their home court will be as kind to them as Manila was to the Patriots. With their backs to the walls, Satria Muda need some inspiration to get anywhere near the Patriots, who are still unbeaten after adding import Gabe Freeman to their lineup.

Freeman was at his usual brilliant best with 23 points and 13 rebounds but when he had to sit down after being saddled with 3 fouls in the second quarter, it was local Filipino Rob Wainwright who took over the scoring mantle.
Doing the majority of his damage with Freeman on the bench, Wainwright finished with 16 points, 11 of those coming in the first half, yet another testament to the strength in depth that the Patriots can call upon.

As for the Indonesians, it was yet another disappointing outing for their import duo of Alex Hartman and Nakiea Miller finishing with 12 and 11 points respectively, figures which are simply not good enough if the Indonesians are to have any chance whatsoever of making this series a competitive one.

Miller did get into double digits for rebounding with 10 rebounds but it is apparent that without the injured local Christian Sitepu to help him out on the boards, it may be taking its toll on the enigmatic center.

In fact, SMB's top scorer for the game was their local star Rony Gunawan who surprised the Patriots with 15 markers but all in vain as the Patriots held Hartman and Miller in check, the frustration clearly showing on the faces of the beleaguered American duo.

Not that the home side had it all their own way. When Hartman hit one of his three 3-pointers to kick off the fourth quarter, SMB were down by just 6 points then with the score being 52-46 in favour of the Filipinos. But a 13-0 run by the Patriots put paid to any comeback hopes for the Indonesians.

The run was sparked by a 3-pointer from their point guard Christian Coronel whose aggressive defense on his Indonesian counterpart Mario Wuysang might have been called for fouls had this game been played in any other city except Manila, yet another advantage of home court comforts.

The 13-0 run ballooned the lead to 19 and was just too much for SMB to dig themselves out of and the Patriots were able to cruise all the way home to what many now perceive as an unassailable series lead and gives them the chance to go for a series clinching victory this Sunday in Jakarta.

For SMB, both Hartman and Miller need to find some way to get themselves out of their shooting funk and establish their presence in the series. For starters, they will definitely be more of a factor on their home court but will be hoping that they haven't left it too late against a potent Patriots lineup.