Hong Kong Eastern secured a seat in the quarterfinals after adding to also-ran Terrafirma’s woes with a 134-110 victory in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner’s Cup Friday night at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.
The guest team opened the floodgates in the second half to snuff the fight out of the listless Dyip and formally enter the next round with a 7-3 win-loss record in a three-way logjam at second place with NorthPort and Converge.
Six players scored in double figures as Eastern got its way on offense with an efficient 62 percent field goal shooting.
Hong Kong dropped 45 points in a dominating fourth period, where it led by as many as 29. Eastern’s bench outworked their Terrafirma counterparts, 82-30.
Ramon Cao finished with 23 points and seven rebounds while Kobey Lam had a double-double of 20 points and 10 assists for Hong Kong, which boosted its chances of clinching a twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals.
“Tonight’s game started actually after the first 24 minutes for us. We were not good in the first two quarters, like in our energy. Since the first minute it wasn’t on the level we needed to win,” Eastern coach Mensur Bajramovic said.
“So, we had a meeting in the locker room. And my players came (out) a little bit better and we finished the game.”
Steven Guinchard came off the bench in the second period and changed the complexion of the duel which was tied at 24 after the opening quarter.
He had a perfect second canto where he scored 17 of his 20 points off 4-of-4 three-point shooting, 1-of-1 four-pointer and 1-of-1 from the foul line. Guinchard capped his night with 6-of-7 shooting from the field — all from treys.
Hayden Blankley had 16 points, seven assists and seven rebounds while Hao Zhu and Yuet Yeung Pok added 11 for the Eastern, who essayed a blowout despite missing Chris Mclaughlin after just five minutes due to an ankle injury.
Lam pushed Eastern’s advantage to 131-102 with 1:23 remaining in the game.
Victory remained elusive for the Dyip after 11 starts.
Brandon Edwards had 26 points and 17 rebounds to pace Terrafirma while Aljun Melecio and Stanley Pringle chipped in 17 and 16 markers, respectively.
Louie Sangalang had 13 points and Kevin Ferrer listed 12.
EASTERN (134) — Cao 23, Blankley 23, Lam 20, Guinchard 20, Zhu 13, Pok 11, Leung 9, Yang 7, Chan 6, Xu 4, Cheung 3, McLaughlin 2.
TERRAFIRMA (110) — Edwards 26, Melecio 17, Pringle 16, Sangalang 13, Ferrer 12, Carino 9, Romeo 8, Paraiso 3, Hernandez 3, Manuel 2, Catapusan 1, Nonoy 0.
Quarters: 24-24, 57-53, 88-79, 134-110.