JP Alcaraz of the RP Patriots (left) taps the ball away from Indonesia's Youbel Sondakh during Game 2 of their ABL championship Wednesday at The Arena in San Juan. The Patriots won, 72-53. (Photo by RICHARD VIÑAS)

Game Sunday (BritAma Arena, Jakarta)
4 p.m. Satria Muda BritAma vs RP Patriots (Patriots lead series 2-0)

Gabe Freeman dished out another stellar performance but it was the effort by the locals that made the difference as the Philippine Patriots clobbered Indonesia’s Satria Muda BritAma, 72-53, and moved closer to claiming the first-ever ASEAN Basketball League crown Wednesday at The Arena in San Juan.

Though Freeman struggled offensively early in the game, the Patriots controlled the tempo of the game before coming through a decisive 20-4 run in the payoff period to finally disarm the Indons and take a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-five title showdown.

A victory on Sunday at the BritAma Arena will give the squad co-owned by Harbour Centre's Mikee Romero and Tony Boy Cojuangco the honor as the first champion team of the league.

But coach Louie Alas isn't expecting Satria Muda to give them the championship on a silver platter.

No matter what the condition will be, Alas and Romero want to finish the series on Sunday. Game 4, if necessary, is scheduled on Wednesday also at the BritAma in the event sponsored by Thunderbird and Outlast.

"It's going to be tough playing in front of a hostile crowd," said Alas, whose team leaves today. "For sure, the crowd in Jakarta will be ready so we have to develop a mindset of going to a jungle. It will be a very hard game."

Freeman, who exploded for 39 points in the series opener, made just 9-of-21 shots and committed four fouls. Still, he finished with his sixth straight double-double with 23 points and 14 rebounds.

He likewise shared his coach's sentiments, saying: "You know what, we have to take it one game at a time and I'm not going to say that we're going to sweep them but we're going to play hard especially on their home turf."

But the key factor in this bruising game was the local support the Patriots sorely lacked last Friday as team captain Rob Wainwright, Christian Coronel, Nonoy Baclao, and Elmer Espiritu made solid contributions off the bench.

Wainwright rediscovered his shooting touch by firing four triples to finish with 16 points. Coronel, on the other hand, made five points and provided tough defense on Indonesia's top guard Mario Wuysang who he stole twice.

Baclao and Espiritu had five rebounds each aside from helping the 6-foot-10 American import Jason Dixon, who tallied his 15th double-double in the last 16 games with 11 points and 13 rebounds, in shutting down SMB's Nakiea Miller.

Miller, the athletic 6-foot-9 reinforcement, finished with a horrible 5-of-21 shooting – no thanks to Patriots’ tough defensive alignment. He ended up with only 11 points and 13 boards.

The scores:
RP PATRIOTS 72 — Freeman 23, Wainwright 16, Dixon 11, Coronel 5, Gaco 4, Ybañez 3, Espiritu 3, Sta Maria 3, Baclao 2, Alcaraz 2.
SATRIA MUDA BRITAMA 53 — Gunawan R. 15, Hartman 12, Miller 11, Frihantono 6, Wuysang 5, Sondakh 4, Sitombang 0, Achamd 0, Gunawan G. 0, Wijaya 0.
Quarters: 19-13, 41-26, 52-43, 72-53.