Last January 9, the Saigon Heat handed the Hong Kong Eastern Basketball Club its first loss. 26 days later, the result was still the same.
With Mikey Williams finding his groove once again, Saigon outlasted Hong Kong in overtime, 118-115, Sunday evening at the CIS Arena in Saigon, Vietnam.
For the last three games, Williams, a Filipino-American floor general, averaged just 6.0 points per contest after scintillating in his first three outings — norming 27.33 points per contest. Wanting to break the Saigon’s three-game skid, the 26-year-old had 23 points, nine rebounds, five assists, and three steals in 44 minutes and 30 seconds of action.
A Williams three-pointer during the early-goings of overtime gave Saigon a five-point lead. Marcus Elliott tried to rally Hong Kong back, but David Arnold and Akeem Scott answered every basket.
Besides the loss, Saigon wasted another standout performance by Christian Standhardinger. The first overall pick in the 2017 PBA Draft had 31 points and 18 rebounds.
Saigon could have won the game in regulation. Standhardinger committed a foul on Quang Trung To with five seconds left, that sent the local to the line. However, To split his charities.
Scott led Saigon with 38 points, eight rebounds and six steals, while Maxie Esho and Moses Morgan had 27 and 17 points respectively.
Marcus Elliott tallied a double-double for Hong Kong with 29 points and 10 rebounds. Elliot’s fellow World Import Tyler Lamb shot just 9-for-26 from the field and committed six turnovers, but still finished with 26 points and five steals.
Saigon evened their slate to 5-5 while Hong Kong went down to 9-2.
