Beermen bow to Dragons in ABL duel

MANILA, Philippines - Former PBA import Sammy Monroe and Fil-Am Justin Melton debuted in grand fashion as they led Westport Malaysia Dragons to an 82-76 upset of fancied San Miguel Beermen yesterday in the Asean Basketball League at the MABA Gym in Kuala Lumpur.

Monroe, a former reinforcement for Barako Bull, scattered 32 big points to go with seven rebounds, six assists and eight steals while Melton, a member of the Gilas cadet pool, fired 19 markers along with three feeds and two interceptions to power the Dragons past a stunned Beermen team.

The Dragons halted a harrowing four-game slide to improve to 3-4 while dealing the on-and-off Beermen their third setback in six outings.

“Finally, we’re able to finish the job. We’ve always been ahead in our previous games but we’re not able to sustain it all the way because we couldn’t get the looseball and rebounds. Today we managed to do so,” said Dragons coach Ariel Vanguardia.

Melton rifled in his third triple of the day, strip SMB of possession the next play and sent the leather to Monroe for a breakaway dunk as the Dragons seized a 77-69 cushion entering the last 2:13. 

Gabe Freeman split his charities for SMB before a tip-in by Gavin Edwards pushed the home team to a comfortable 79-70 spread, 1:03 left.

Back-to-back baskets by Chris Banchero and Freeman put the Beermen to within five at 79-74, but they couldn’t get much going in the remainder of the match.

“SMB still can’t seem to get totally on track. Poor decision-making again in the end cost us the game. Lost poise,” said San Miguel Corp. sports director Noli Eala, whose team continued its “seesaw” performance this season.

Freeman, who played with a strained knee, banged in 22 points and 14 rebounds as Banchero, who is recovering from a bruised hip, chipped in 20 markers with five assists. Brian Williams had 12 points and 16 rebounds but saw limited action in the fourth after hurting his right knee in a collision with Dragons’ Moala Tautuaa in the payoff period.

The Scores:

Westports Malaysia 82 - Monroe 32, Melton 19, Edwards 13, Cabahug 10, Tautuaa 8, Ooi 0, Loh 0, Chee 0.

San Miguel Beermen 76 - Freeman 22, Banchero 20, Williams 12, Avenido 10, Taulava 5, Menk 4, Acuna 3, Luanzon 0, Hubalde 0.

Quarterscores: 15-19, 39-38, 59-56, 82-76.