ANTIPOLO – Hong Kong Eastern outlasted an exhausted Barangay Ginebra side by way of a 93-90 decision to stretch its winning streak to three in the PBA Season 49 Commissioner’s Cup on Sunday night at the Ynares Center here.
Hayden Blankley came through with crucial baskets down the stretch, none more important than the pressure-packed free throws he sank with 3.9 seconds left to play to keep the opposition at bay — and settle the eventual final count.
A key stop on a three-hunting Scottie Thompson on the other end sealed the visiting team’s fifth win in six games to rise to no. 2 in the standings behind NorthPort, who remained the only unbeaten team in the tilt with a 5-0 card.
“We tried, these past few days, to make a plan against them. I’m happy the players believed and trusted this plan,” Coach Mensur Bajramovic said.
Blankley finished with 25 points, five rebounds, and four assists as he earned some sort of payback against the team that beat him and the Bay Area Dragons in Game 7 of the 2022-23 Commissioner’s Cup Finals in Bulacan.
The same goes for his fellow former Dragons in Glen Yang and Kobey Lam as the backcourt combination supplied 11 and eight markers, respectively.
“Glen, Kobey, and I are very experienced against a lot of those guys and against the same system,” said Blankley. “You know, through our practices last week or after the Blackwater game, we tried to like, add to what Coach’s plans were.
“And, sort of give out little tips on personnel, like the individual players and what we could do within the system,” he added. “So, that experience helped. Also the mental toughness I guess, ’cause we’ve battled with them before.”
Chris McLaughlin continued his stellar play for HK, tallying 20 points and 21 rebounds with six assists as he’s been impressive since replacing Cam Clark.
Forward Ramon Cao supplied 14 points for Eastern, who’s flying back home to host San Miguel in a 2024-25 East Asia Super League fixture on Wednesday, December 18, at the Southorn Stadium in Wan Chai.
It’s the first of two meetings between the clubs, the other set on the 22nd at the Philsports Arena in Pasig to resume their Commissioner’s Cup campaigns.
“They’re a great team, too,” said Yang of the Beermen, who’s in the midst of a two-game winning streak since Leo Austria was reappointed as head coach.
“But it will be a home game for us, finally. We’re hoping it won’t feel like an away game because there’s a lot of Filipino fans in Hong Kong,” he added, smiling.
Japeth Aguilar, on the other hand, paced Ginebra with 26 points and eight rebounds in their first defeat after a 2-0 start into the tournament.
Making matters worse for the team is that the veteran big man wasn’t able to finish the game as he apparently hurt his groin in the final seconds — indeed a tough break for the one who tried to will his side despite their predicament.
“I really don’t have any information on them … We’ll see how extensive the damage was,” said head coach Tim Cone, who led a team that competed gallantly with heavy legs as it was their third game in five nights.
Justin Brownlee managed to finish with 18 points despite a rare poor shooting night from the three-time Best Import, where he went just 6-of-23 from the field that included a combined 0-for-10 clip from the two arcs.
Stephen Holt made 14 points and five rebounds despite a scary slip early in the fourth, while Troy Rosario and RJ Abarrientos added 12 each.
The Kings will look for an immediate bounce-back against the winless Terrafirma on Wednesday as well at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium. Tip-off is at 7:30.
The Scores:
Eastern 93 – Blankley 25, McLaughlin 20, Cao 14, Yang 11, Lam 8, Chan 6, Guinchard 5, Leung 3, Xu 1, Zhu 0.
Ginebra 90 – J. Aguilar 26, Brownlee 18, Holt 14, Abarrientos 12, Rosario 12, Thompson 8, Cu 0, Adamos 0, Ahanmisi 0.
Quarterscores: 26-25, 54-44, 73-67, 93-90.
