SJ Belangel and Daegu KOGAS slumped to their third straight defeat after falling to Changwon LG, 62-76, on Sunday at the Daegu Gymnasium.
Coach Yoo Do Hun was hoping Daegu could build on their impressive performance on Saturday when they almost pulled the rug from under league leader Anyang which won over them by just one point,
At least up until halftime, the Pegasus appeared sharp as they erected a 46-40 lead.
The game remained tight entering the fourth frame when Changwon started to pull away.
Daegu simply had no answers to Changwon’s Egyptian import Assem Marei who was virtually unstoppable the entire game.
The 6-foot-9 former Turkish League MVP shot nine out of 13 from the field for 20 points to outscore Daegu’s Murphy Holloway who had just 15. Marei was also a monster off the glass as he cleared 21 rebounds, just five less than the entire Daegu squad which collected 26 rebounds.
Lee Kwanhee, who played as an Asian import in the PBA for Phoniex Fuels, put up 19 points highlighted by three triples to backstop Marai,
Korean national team star Lee Daesung topped Daegu with 20 points, His backcourt partner Belangel, however, had his worst showing thus far in the KBL as he finished with just two points and two rebounds with not a single assist in 26 minutes of play.
Justin Gutang finally debuted for Changwon. He played just a minute and 36 seconds and failed to get himself in the stat sheet.
The loss was Daegu’s seventh in nine games which pushed it to the bottom of the KBL standings while Changwon moved to the middle of the pack with its 4-4 record.
Meanwhile, Ulsan Hyundai Mobis continued to struggle without RJ Abarrientos as they dropped their second consecutive game. The Phoebus were blown off the court by Goyang, 88-112.
From being second in the team standing. Ulsan has now fallen to a tie for fourth place with Seoul Samsung. Both have a record of 5-4. Goyang has supplanted Ulsan in the standings as the Carrot Jumpers now own a 5-3 record, just half a game behind Ethan Alvano’s Wonju DB which is in solo second.
