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| Yoshiyuki Matsuwaki dropped six threes on Meralco. Peter Baltazar |
QUEZON CITY—For the third straight full home-and-away season, the PBA will not be represented in the EASL playoffs as Ryukyu shut the door on Meralco's last shot in the Final 6 with an 88-79 win in the final day of the regular season on Wednesday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Aware that a six-point defeat would be enough to knock them out, the Golden Kings quickly established dominance, never giving the Bolts a taste of the lead from start to finish.
Meralco launched a comeback in the fourth, but the team could only draw to as close as five.
Yoshiyuki Matsuwaki led Ryukyu, which sealed the top seed in Group B with a 5-1 record, with 18 points on 6-of-9 shooting from beyond the arc, five rebounds, and three assists.
Vic Law added 15 points, six rebounds, four assists, and three steals, while Jack Cooley contributed 10 points, 11 rebounds, three assists, and two blocks.
Ismael Romero led Meralco, which finished in third place at 3-3, with 24 points on 9-of-17 shooting, nine rebounds, one assist, and one steal.
In his first game back in all competitions since hurting his knee during the PBA Philippine Cup semifinals, Chris Newsome put up three points, four rebounds, one assist, and three steals off the bench.
In other results, Alvark Tokyo edged Ulaanbaatar on the road, 97-93, and Utsunomiya clobbered Taipei Fubon at home, 105-88, to cap yet another 3-0 day for Japan B.League squads.
Both the Golden Kings and Alvark Tokyo clinched outright semifinal seats for being the two best top seeds entering the playoffs.
