Justin Brownlee was back to his usual form as Pelita Jaya stunned the more favored Shahrdary Gorgan, 97-90, to keep their semifinal hopes alive in the Basketball Champions League Asia (BCL Asia) 2024 in Dubai, Monday night.
The naturalized Filipino fired 32 points and 12 rebounds, having seemingly figured out the Sheikh Saeed Bin Maktoum Sports Hall as he got in the zone early to help his side bounce back from a tough loss 24 hours prior.
The Indonesian Basketball League side got blown out by B.League champions Hiroshima Dragonflies, and Brownlee himself showed how much they’ve moved on from it by giving the three-time Iranian Super League titlists a long night.
Pelita Jaya trailed by a point after the opening quarter, but the resident Ginebra import spearheaded a 12-3 run toward a 36-26 lead with 7:25 to go.
Brownlee already had 21 points and seven rebounds entering the halftime intermission, wherein they possessed a 50-43 advantage.
He would help out in fending off their foes in the fourth quarter as well, sinking both of his charities with 15.9 seconds left to settle the final count.
Brownlee shot 12-of-21 from the floor, including 4-of-8 from deep, and also had four assists, two steals, and a block in 38 minutes and 34 seconds of play.
But it wasn’t all ‘JB’ alone that made the victory possible against Gorgan, who came into the game as a favorite following their dominant 102-79 victory over defending Korean Basketball League champions KCC Egis.
James Dickey III showed the way for Pelita Jaya with a tournament record 40 points on 17-of-26 field goal shooting, along with 17 rebounds and five assists.
Together, the reinforcements feasted on multiple defensive miscues committed by their foes, including one instance where Brownlee found Dickey wide open near the rim for a layup that pushed their lead to 95-87 with 1:10 left.
Andakara Prastawa and Muhammad Arighi provided support with 10 points apiece in the win that hiked Pelita Jaya’s card to 1-1 in Group B.
The crew will take a day off before facing KCC Egis on Wednesday night at 7:30 Manila time to boost its semis chances. The Korean side are currently winless in two games, having lost to the Dragonflies earlier by way of a 107-77 rout.
Will Cherry, meanwhile, had 24 points on 21 shots for Gorgan, who fell to 1-1 and will have to beat the 2-0 Hiroshima on Tuesday to stay in the semis race.
Former NBA guard Joe Young backed him up with 21 points. Mobin Sheikhi had 11 points while big man Salar Monji added 10 points and 15 rebounds for the FIBA West Asia Super League Final 8 2024 third-placers.
