Justin Brownlee and Pelita Jaya Basketball got slapped with some harsh reality in the Basketball Champions League Asia (BCL Asia) opener on Sunday.
The Indonesian Basketball League outfit got manhandled by Hiroshima, 86-69, in the inaugurals’ curtain-raiser at the Sheikh Saeed Bin Maktoum Sports Hall.
Brownlee led his side with 12 points, alongside four rebounds, two assists, and three steals. However, their form as a whole was far from what they showed in the two-round Qualifiers, which they finished with a clean 6-0 sweep.
That was evident right from the get-go. The Dragonflies exploded to a 16-3 start and Pelita Jaya were left in shreds, never to recover.
They trailed by as many as 30 points, 80-50, following a bucket off a drive by Kerry Blackshear, Jr. with less than seven minutes left to play.
James Dickey finished with 11 points and 17 rebounds while Brandon Jawato supplied 10 markers for Pelita Jaya, who fell to 0-1 in Group B.
Hiroshima, on the other hand, was led by the 20 points on six triples of Toshiki Kamizawa in the victory that gave them the early lead in the pool.
Dwayne Evans had 18 points and 13 rebounds. Takuto Nakamura and Blackshear had 11 and 10, respectively, for the reigning B.League champions.
