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One basketball adage will likely be on Satria Muda Britama’s blackboard as it heads into Game 2 of the Asean Basketball League final — defense wins championships.

The Indonesian Basketball League champion will try to avoid falling into a 0-2 hole in its best-of-five series when it faces the Philippines Patriots today at Fil-Oil Flying V Arena in San Juan City.

The Patriots won Friday’s opener 78-68, after erasing a 56-50 deficit late in the third quarter. Satria Muda team manager Dwui Eriano said defensive lapses cost the squad Game 1.

“We need to improve on our team defense and rebounding in the next game. I see our squad switching defensive strategies,” Dwui said on Tuesday.

Satria Muda was effective in containing Patriots center Jason Dixon, who finished with only 13 points, but it had no answer for the Philippines’ other import, forward Gabe Freeman, who had a game-high 39 points, including four three-pointers.

The scoring balance Satria Muda coach Fictor Roring had been asking of his team was there in Game 1. Nakiea Miller had 22 points, one of four Satria Muda players to score in double-digits. Alex Hartman had 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Mario Wuysang and Rony Gunawan had 11 and 10 points, respectively.

For Game 2, however, Fictor hopes his players will shoot better from long distance. Satria Muda was an anemic 4-of-26 on three-pointers in the opener.

“One of the reasons why we lost was we missed a lot of our three-point attempts,” Fictor said. “The Patriots took advantage of those misses, and in Game 2 we can’t let that happen again.”

“We also need to maintain our focus in the fourth quarter. We played very well in the first three quarters [in Game 1], but that’s not good enough.”

In order to prevent fatigue, Satria Muda decided to stay in Manila to prepare for Game 2. Dwui said the players were in good physical condition.

“Although Alex got food poisoning, he’s better now after consulting with the team doctor,” Dwui said. “He has been training with the team already.”

Patriots coach Louie Alas said he was also looking for more consistency from his club on the defensive end.

“Our job will be a lot easier if we can be more consistent on that aspect of our game,” Alas told GMA News Web site.

“I’m worried about my players’ tendency to rely too much on the scoring abilities of our imports,” he said.

“The team feels that if we can outscore our opponents we can win, but the true barometer of this team is defense. I just hope we will learn from this experience,” Alas added.

Freeman said he would like to see his teammates be more aggressive today. “We have to take this game seriously. We have to come out with a lot of intensity,” he said.

The series shifts to Indonesia for Games 3 and 4. Game 3 is set at Britama Arena in Jakarta on Sunday. Game 4, if necessary, will be played on Feb. 24. ABL