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| Carl Tamayo simply knows how to take over in a finals game. Changwon LG Sakers (file photo) |
MANILA—Carl Tamayo showed his championship pedigree right at the start of the KBL Finals as he led the Changwon LG Sakers to a 75-66 win against the Seoul SK Knights on Monday at the Jamsil Students' Gymnasium in Seoul.
Tamayo, who won titles in high school for NU-Nazareth, college for the University of the Philippines, and the Japan B.League for Ryukyu, showed how he is already used to the bright lights of championship basketball, putting up 24 points on 9-of-18 shooting including 4-of-8 from long distance, 10 rebounds, two assists, and one block to spearhead Changwon's attack to steal homecourt edge from Seoul SK.
The Sakers turned things around in the second quarter after outscoring the Knights, 28-16, to take a 42-35 halftime lead.
Seoul SK had a chance to crawl back into the game after it cut the lead down to three, 62-59, with around six minutes left in the fourth quarter, but Changwon held on with Tamayo dishing an assist for Assem Marei's breakaway dunk and later scoring a fade-away jumper to help keep the team afloat.
Marei added 19 points, 14 rebounds, four assists, and five steals for the Sakers, who drew first blood in the best-of-seven series.
Jameel Warney led the Knights with 21 points, 13 rebounds, one assist, two blocks, and one steal, but he committed four turnovers as well.
Game 2 will still be at the Jamsil Students' Gymnasium on Wednesday night before the series shifts to the Changwon Gymnasium for Games 3 and 4 this weekend.
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