Cameron Clark impressed against his former team. EASL |
PASIG--Hong Kong Eastern survived a furious fourth-quarter rally from San Miguel for an 84-74 win in their EASL second-round meeting on Wednesday night at the PhilSports Arena.
Counting their two wins in the EASL and PBA last month, the Long Lions completed a 3-0 sweep of their head-to-head clashes against the Beermen over the stretched Christmas season.
"It's not easy to beat any team three times in a row, and I'm proud of my players. They did it tonight," coach Mensur Bajramovic said.
Eastern raced to a 30-11 lead against SMB at the end of the first quarter and held to a 75-50 cushion with 9:09 left in the fourth.
However, Don Trollano and June Mar Fajardo joined forces for an 18-0 Beermen run that cut the lead down to seven, 75-68, with 3:29 to go.
In the end, though, the Long Lions held on as a tip-in from Chris McLaughlin, a three-pointer from Kobey Lam, and a turnaround from Cameron Clark iced their win.
Clark, who finally got to play against his former team, led Eastern, which stayed in contention for a spot in the EASL Final Four with a 3-2 record in Group A, with 25 points, eight rebounds, three assists, and one block.
McLaughlin added 15 points, 17 rebounds, five assists, one block, and three steals.
The race for the second seed in the said group could be decided by a Feb. 5 showdown between the Long Lions and the Taoyuan Pauian Pilots at the Taoyuan Arena in Taiwan.
Fajardo and Trollano each scored 20 points with the former grabbing 13 rebounds for SMB, which remained winless EASL-wise at 0-5.
Their imports, Torren Jones and Jabari Narcis, struggled, with Jones only scoring six points and Narcis going scoreless. Coach Leo Austria decided to go all-Filipino the rest of the way.
The team will play its last game in the home-and-away league on Feb. 12 against JD Cagulangan and Suwon at the Suwon KT Sonicboom Arena.
In Group B play, Macau finished its group stage assignments with an 89-78 win against newly retooled Busan at the latter's home, the Sajik Arena.
The Black Bears, fresh from finishing second in the Bangkok finale of the TAT Winter Tournament, pulled away in the fourth quarter to clip the Egis, who have been struggling both in the EASL and KBL.
Sam Deguara, who led the way for Naic to the TAT Bangkok leg title, returned to Macau and finished with 24 points on 11-of-15 shooting, 19 rebounds, and one assist.
Damian Chongqui and Adonis Thomas each added 23 markers with the former also dishing out 11 dimes for the Black Bears, who moved up to 3-3.
They will now await the fate of the New Taipei Kings and Meralco Bolts to find out if they will join the Ryukyu Golden Kings in the EASL semis.
It will be Ryukyu's turn to travel to the PhilSports Arena next Wednesday to take on Meralco, while Busan will host New Taipei the night before.
New Taipei and Meralco collide also on Feb. 12 at the University of Taipei Gymnasium in a game that could decide which team will clinch the last semifinal spot for Group B.
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