Home teams Meralco and San Miguel Beer suffered contrasting fates at the kickoff leg of the East Asia Super League Season 2 at the Mall of Asia Arena on Wednesday night.
The Bolts spoiled the league debut of the Macau Black Bears, 97-85, while the Beermen were ambushed by the Suwon KT Sonicboom of Korea, 87-81.
Chris Newsome topscored with 18 points while imports Allen Durham and DJ Kennedy each had 17 for Meralco, which led by as many as 19 points late in the game.
Gilas Pilipinas naturalized player Ange Kouame added nine points and nine rebounds despite playing just 17 minutes in his first game in the regional league.
The Black Bears, runner-up to Zamboanga Valientes in The Asian Tournament Grand Finals two months ago, went to their towering frontcourt of Will Artino, Sam Deguara, and Jeantall Cylla but were still no match against the reigning Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup champions despite the three combining for 54 points and 32 rebounds.
“It’s nice to win our first game here in the country. We played with a lot of pride, although we didn’t play our best game,” admitted coach Luigi Trillo, whose Bolts are coming off a three-game sweep by Barangay Ginebra in the PBA Governors Cup quarterfinals.
“At least we got one over here in our home turf.”
Unfortunately, the same can’t be said of San Miguel, which couldn’t sustain a fine first half against the Korean Basketball League (KBL) runner-up.
The Beermen were outscored by the Sonicboom in the third quarter, 29-19, to take a six-point lead with them going to the final quarter.
The defending Commissioner’s Cup champion threatened for the last time at 75-73, but the Sonicboom dropped a telling 9-0 blast sparked by import Rayshaun Hammonds to make it a 12-point contest for the Koreans.
Hammonds finished with 39 points and 14 rebounds, while accounting for seven of Suwon KT’s output during that game-changing run.
Heo Hoon, son of the great Korean gunner Hur Jae and the 2020 KBL Most Valuable Player, added 17 points and nine assists.
EJ Anosike finished with 34 points and seven rebounds, while June Mar Fajardo with 19 points and nine boards for San Miguel.