Meralco just lacked the added firepower to overcome the Seoul SK Knights, suffering a 72-62 loss late Wednesday night in the East Asia Super League at the Jamsil Student’s Gymnasium.
The Bolts were without seven of their key players led by Chris Newsome in their final game in the regional meet’s Home and Away season.
Still, they gave the home team a good fight all the way until the final quarter when the Knights outscored them 23-14, to clinch their fourth win in six outings for a tie on top of Group B with the New Taipei Kings heading to the Final Four in Cebu City.
Leon Williams had monster numbers of 25 points, 19 rebounds, and three steals to pace the Knights, who also got 19 points from Ilyoung Heo on 4-of-7 shooting from three-point range.
The Bolts were led by the 23 points and eight rebounds by import Shonn Miller.
Alvin Pasaol finished with 14 points as the best local scorer for Meralco, who also didn’t suit up Allein Maliksi, Bong Quinto, Raymond Almazan, Chris Banchero, Aaron Black and Cliff Hodge.
New import Alioune Tew had 10 points and grabbed 21 rebounds as the Bolts finished their campaign with a 1-5 record.
The scores
Seoul SK Knights (72) – Williams 25, Heo 23, Changyong 8, Oh 7, Choi 4, Kim 3, Yaung 2, Park 0, Moon 0, S. Oh 0, B. Choi 0, Seonghwan 0.
Meralco (62) – Miller 23, Pasaol 14, Tew 10, Caram 10, Rios 3, Dario 2, Jose 0, Bates 0, Jackson 0, Torres 0, Pascual 0.
Quarterscores: 14-13; 32-30; 49-48; 72-62.