Cabatu shines as Patriots edge Slingers

MANILA, Philippines - Junjun Cabatu came off the bench to fire 11 points, including five in the clutch as the Philippine Patriots pulled off a gutsy 62-59 win over the Singapore Slingers for a share of the lead in the AirAsia Asean Basketball League at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig over the weekend.

 The 6-foot-5 Cabatu, left open by the sloppy Slingers defense, hit a triple that gave the hosts a 60-56 cushion with 64 seconds left in the contest.

The former La Salle standout then scored on a drive in the closing seconds, completely dashing the hopes of the Slingers, who moved within one for the last time on Al Vergara’s three-pointer, 59-60.

Co-owned by Harbour Centre owner Mikee Romero and Tony Boy Cojuangco, the Patriots sealed the win after Singapore’s Ng Han Bin bungled a three-point shot in Singapore’s last offensive play.
The victory thus kept the Patriots in step with the Chang Thailand Slammers, who scored a 76-59 win over the Brunei Barracudas.

The victory came on the heels of the Patriots’ 71-62 romp over the Barracudas.

“Our defense held on especially in the last four possessions. We played much better defensively than the last time out and our locals stepped up,” said Alas.

The Patriots’ defense held Singapore’s imports Marcus Skinner and Kyle Jeffers to 12 and 10 points, respectively, after both scored 19 points in the team’s 94-93 win over Indonesia’s Satria Muda BritAma last week.

The Patriots also fashioned out the win minus import Anthony Johnson, who sustained a hamstring injury.
Benedict Fernandez and Egay Billiones topscored for the Patriots with 12 and 11 points.Donald Little, the other RP import, tallied seven points and nine rebounds but made 11 turnovers.

Point guard Warren Ybanez’s layup with barely two minutes left in the game shoved the hosts to a 54-53 lead then Fernandez buried a triple that made it, 57-53, with 1:27 to go.

Leo Avenido, another Filipino import of the Slingers, led all scorers with 15 points.