Late meltdown dooms Meralco

Meralco squandered a 13-point lead and paid dearly as Busan KCC Egis rallied for a thrilling, 72-68, escape in the 2024-25 East Asia Super League (EASL) Wednesday night in front of its home crowd at the Sajik Gymnasium in Busan, South Korea.

The Bolts looked poised to claim their third win in Group B after erecting a 66-53 separation with under five minutes left in the game, which was tight in the first three periods before the visitors from the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) accelerated in the early goings of the final canto.

But when Meralco thought it had the game in the bag, Heo Ung unloaded a barrage of treys to fuel the Korean Basketball League champions’ telling 19-2 closing run in the last four minutes to stun the Bolts for a breakthrough victory.

The 31-year-old former Korean national team sniper hit four triples down the stretch in a remarkable 7-of-12 shooting from beyond the arc to finish with a game-high 31 points.

Import Deon Burton added 26 markers for the home squad, which arrested a three-game slide.

Heo sank the go-ahead layup with 12 seconds left for a 69-68 Busan lead. The Bolts, however, came up empty-handed in their possession as the Korean club iced the match.

DJ Kennedy led Meralco with 23 points and nine rebounds, while Akil Mitchell, wearing a face mask due to a broken nose, had a double-double of 17 markers and 18 rebounds.

The Bolts fell to an even 2-2 record but remained at no. 2 in Group B behind unbeaten leader Ryukyu Golden Kings.

Meanwhile, Eastern kept San Miguel Beer winless with a 71-62 decision in its Hong Kong homestand.

Kobey Lam scored five straight in Eastern’s decisive 9-0 blast that allowed the home squad to pull away, 69-58, midway in the payoff period and kept its distance all the way to its first victory in three outings in Group A.

Lam had 19 points and had plenty of backup with Chris McLaughlin putting up a double-double of 16 points and 17 rebounds, while Glenn Yang had 11.

The Beermen stumbled to their third straight loss in as many games.

San Miguel drew close, 60-58, after a June Mar Fajardo basket before Lam spearheaded Eastern’s surge.

Torren Jones and Fajardo led the Beermen with 19 points each.