Meralco couldn’t pull off the same magic it did the last time and fell to Seoul SK Knights, 81-80, in the East Asia Super League Home and Away season late Wednesday at the Philsports Arena.
The Bolts rallied back from nine points down inside the final three minutes but failed to complete the job as they botched what could have been the game-winner in the endgame.
Import Prince Ibeh lost control of the ball off a perfect feed by Chris Banchero underneath, resulting in a steal by Sunhyung Kim to preserve the win for the Korean side on the road.
The win allowed the Knights to break free from a tie with the Bolts as they evened their record at 2-2, while relegating the home team back at the bottom of the standings with a 1-3 slate in Group B.
Meralco came to its first home game on a high following its stunning 97-88 overtime thriller over the Ryukyu Golden Kings at the Studio City Event Center in Macau in a game where it rallied back from four points down in the final 15 seconds of regulation and notched a breakthrough win.
For a while, the Bolts seemed headed for another escape act as they fought back from an 81-72 deficit with 2:40 left and threatened at 81-80 as they scored eight straight points in less than a minute behind the shooting of import Zach Lofton and Chris Newsome.
The home team even got a huge break when Seoul import Jameel Warney missed on a jumper with 14 seconds left, with Ibeh collecting the rebound.
Coming off a timeout, Meralco went on a drive-and-draw play that wasn’t completed as Ibeh couldn’t handle the ball in the final play.
Warney led the Korean Basketball League powerhouse with an all-around game of 31 points, seven rebounds, and six assists, An Youngjun hit 5-of-10 from three-point range to finish with 19 points, while Filipino import Juan Gomez de Liano just saw action in the opening half for four points and an assist.
Meralco was led by the 32 points of Lofton on 4-of-9 shooting from beyond the arc along with seven rebounds, Ibeh had a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds, while Newsome was the only local in double figures in scoring with 13 points to go with five rebounds, and six assists.
The Bolts take a one-week rest before hosting former National Basketball Association star Jeremy Lin and the undefeated New Taipei Kings on 3 January also at the Philsports Arena.
THE SCORES:
SEOUL SK KNIGHTS (81) — Warney 31, An 19, Kim 7, Williams 7, Oh 6, De Liano 4, Choi 3, Song 2, B. Choi 2.
MERALCO (80) — Lofton 32, Newsome 13, Ibeh 13, Hodge 8, Black 6, Banchero 5, Bates 2, Quinto 1, Almazan 0, Rios 0, Mendoza 0, Torres 0.
QUARTERS: 20-20; 45-33; 64-56; 81-80.
