Chinggis Broncos weathered Johor’s late-game surge before leaving with the 97-93 decision in their BCL Asia-East Champions League Final opener, last night at the Arena Larkin Indoor Stadium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The defending champions appeared to have sailed away for good when they built a 94-80 lead with 2:33 left, but the waters became rough as the Southern Tigers, buoyed by the home crowd in attendance, charged back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With Scottie Lewis leading the way, the MBL outfit roared to an 11-0 rally to cut the deficit to just three, 94-91, with 46.5 seconds to spare, giving themselves a legitimate chance of pulling off the massive upset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, some minor lapses killed their hopes, particularly on defense when they fell a step slow and enabled Jordy Tshimanga to find Azbayar Altangerel for a short stab to push the gap to five with 27.3 ticks to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It didn’t help that Lewis’ attempt from deep missed, and Temuulen Chinges would go on to widen the gap to 97-91 with a split with 17.8 seconds left, practically shutting the door close for the hosts and their comeback bid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We are still learning … We need to work on it, especially the last quarter,” offered head coach Ariunbold Erdene. “This season, in most of the games, we cannot finish very well. We need to learn a lot of things.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thanks to the locals that came through in the clutch, Ian Miller’s season-high showing was preserved. The reigning MVP poured 32 points on 58-percent shooting from the field, including an 8-of-14 clip from deep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The star guard scored 15 of his points in the fourth quarter alone, which saw him nail half of his three-pointers – including a rare four-point play completion that pushed their lead to 86-75 with 3:40 to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stedmon Lemon would push their lead to 14 before the opposing team’s rally and went on to finish with 24 points, spiked by a pair of triples, together with 4 assists and 3 rebounds in the 36 minutes he played.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tushig Elbeg supplied 12 points off the bench, while Tshimanga came through with a double-double performance after registering 11 points and 16 rebounds, which he laced with 3 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We had around two weeks with no games, so tonight was like a preparation for the rest of the week. Just happy that we got through tonight with a win. This is the start of what we are here to do,” said Miller.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We did it last year, but we have to know that we have the target on the back this year, and everybody’s gonna give us a championship game every night. We have to learn to adapt to that for 40 minutes,” he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lewis, on the other hand, led Johor’s gallant stand with a game-high 36 points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Marcus Lee fell just short of a rare 20-20 with 19 points and 20 rebounds, alongside 5 assists and 5 steals. New guy Cam Clark made 17 in his debut, as the troika carried much of the load offensively in the loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both teams will take turns facing Dewa United Banten after tonight. The Broncos will face them first tomorrow night, and then the Southern Tigers on Thursday in another meeting between the South East clubs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The usual suspects came through to lift South China Athletic past Hi-Tech Basketball Club, 92-90, in the BCL Asia-East 2026 Final 6 opener at the Arena Larkin Indoor Stadium, Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rodrigue Andela converted Glen Yang’s pocket pass to erase a 90-89 deficit with 5.6 seconds remaining, putting the team ahead for good after finding themselves trailing by four with less than five minutes to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
New guy Isaiah Briscoe then made a huge stop by forcing Acchaeus Fields to commit a backing violation, before Kyvon Davenport settled the final count with a split from the line with only 2.1 seconds to spare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The whole crew would then lean on defense in the final possession, preventing Eric Freeman from catching the inbound lob for the tie as time expired to complete the comeback – and take the early lead in Group B.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Coach Lo Yi Ting, however, was far from pleased with what he saw from his men, pointing out issues that made it a tight affair – issues they hope to address when they face the 6-0 Taoyuan Pauian on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It was a close game. We did a bad job on transition defense; They scored 15 points off transition. And we gave up too many defensive rebounds, that’s why we made the game so close,” he lamented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Davenport top-scored for the HKA1 outfit with 25 points and 9 rebounds, and also collected 5 of the team’s 12 steals on his way to earning Player of the Game honors as he netted an efficiency of 25.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Andela made 24 points and 6 rebounds, while Briscoe tallied 22 points, 4 rebounds, 7 assists, and 3 steals in his first-ever BCL Asia-East game as the troika combined for 71 of South China’s total points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yang finished with 13 points, spiked by three triples, including one off a Briscoe kick-out that gave them an 87-86 lead with 3:33 on the clock, helping set up the see-saw battle that ensued all the way to the end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It was a good first game for the guys. Just glad we got the win,” offered Briscoe. “It wasn’t the best game for us, but I finally got my feet wet. It’s my first time playing with this group, I’m just glad we got the win.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Put to naught by the loss, on the other hand, was the 25-point, 18-rebound effort of Eric Freeman to lead Hi-Tech, who actually built a 79-72 advantage early in the deciding chapter but could not hold on to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fields backed him up with 16 points, 4 rebounds, and 5 assists against 5 turnovers. Freddie Lish had 13 points, while Chanatip Jakrawan and Spencer Williams-Rodgers chipped in 12 and 10 points, respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Williams-Rodgers was responsible for giving the Basketball Thai League side the aforementioned one-point lead with 24.9 seconds left, canning in his free throws off an unsportsmanlike foul by Leung Shiu Wah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They had a chance to add more to it but Lish’s floater hit the back rim with about 17 seconds to play, and that proved to be the beginning of the end for them as Andela & Co. swooped in to steal the win.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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