The Thailand Slammers showed their might in the second half, beating the visiting defending champion Philippine Patriots, 66-56, on Sunday at the Thai-Japanese Association gym in Bangkok to move a win away from dethroning the reigning champs in the Asean Basketball League
Chris Kuete, import Jason Dixon and Filipino Froilan Baguion conspired in a big second-half breakaway to lead the Slammers to a 1-0 lead in their best-of-three finals series.
The top-seeded Slammers used their depth to the hilt against a Patriots squad that has been idle for the past 18 days.
Kuete and Dixon and former PBA players Baguion and Ardy Larong led a big fourth quarter by the Slammers — an 11-0 blast — in the first five minutes of the payoff period to put the Patriots away for good.
Larong, who played briefly for the Purefoods Tender Juiciy Giants and the Sta. Lucia Realtors in the PBA, broke a 49-all deadlock with a three-pointer with 9:10 remaining before Kuete, Baguion and Dixon conspired in that huge run.
Dixon's hook shot off a Baguion assist made it 60-49 in favor of the Slammers, 5:06 left.
Kuete, who also scored on an easy slam off a Patriots turnover, topscored with 18 points while grabbing eight rebounds.
Dixon, the Patriots' import last year, added 14 points and 13 rebounds while playing all 40 minutes for the Slammers, with Larong contributing 12 points.
Baguion, also an ex-Patriot, chipped in 11 points, three rebounds and two assists. Attaporn Lertmalaiporn was the top local scorer for Thailand with 10.
But the key to Thailand’s surge in the fourth was Gabe Freeman’s limited action.
Foul trouble hounded the two-time Best Import Freeman as he picked up his fourth foul early in the third quarter. He finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds, but shot just 7-of-24 from the field in 36 minutes.
It was a disappointing loss for the Patriots, who shot just 27 percent from the field.
The defeat marked the first-ever setback by the Filipino cagers in eight ABL playoff games. They won all five games in bagging last year's championship, then swept the Dragons in this season's semis series.
Trailing most of the way, the Patriots erased a 10-point second-quarter deficit and even took a 47-43 lead on a putback by 6-foot-9 import Steve Thomas with 1:42 to go in the third quarter.
But Baguion made a lay-up on the next play before hitting two free throws with 58 seconds remaining off an unsportsmanlike foul by Chito Jaime.
The Patriots last tied the score at 49-all on a putback by Jaime.
From there, it was the Slammers all the way.
Thomas finished with 11 points and 15 rebounds for the Patriots, while seldom-used Erwin Sta Maria, one of three holdovers from last year's title team, scored 11 points in just nine minutes of action.
Egay Billones, the team's top local scorer in the regular season, shot a dismal 3-of-13 from the field for seven points. He was held scoreless in the first half.
Jaime had six points and seven boards for the Patriots while Benedict Fernandez, who had a solid showing in the semis, failed to score a single point in nine minutes of action.
Rey Joble, GMA News TV
