Anyang KGC of Korea dealt San Miguel Beer a massive beating, 142-87, Saturday to pull the plug on the fancied Filipino club’s bid in the East Asian League Champions Week at the Okinawa Arena in Japan.
The Beermen’s devastating defeat came less than 24 hours after another storied Philippine Basketball Association squad, TNT, was mowed down by Korea Basketball League titlist Seoul SK Knights at the Nikkan Arena in Utsonomiya.
What made San Miguel’s loss painful was the participation of Filipino import Rhenz Abando in the demolition job. The high-flying Abando chipped in 22 points behind the 53-point production of import Omari Spellman.
Anyang wound up finishing the group with a 2-0 card while the loss was the second straight for San Miguel, which -played without JuneMar Fajardo, who went down with an injury in the Beermen’s first outing.
The Tropang Giga gave the Knights a good fight until early in the fourth period when the Korean side went on an 11-0 run to peel off from a tight 59-59 contest to a 71-59 lead.
The loss left TNT with a 0-2 record in Group B and out of the running for a berth in the championship round. It lost its debut game against B. League title holder Utsunomiya Brex, 99-66.
The Knights swept their way to the finals of the week-long tournament with a perfect 2-0 record in the same group. Just a day ago, they rallied back from 18 points down for a 92-84 win over the Bay Area Dragons.
The Dragons and Brex both finished with an even 1-1 record, but Bay Area clinched the No. 2 seed in the group after a 96-90 win over Utsunomiya and will now advance in the battle for third place.
