DUBAI – Meralco collapsed in the third and ultimately bowed to Ulaanbaatar Xac, 83-78, in a bitter end to its Basketball Champions League Asia (BCL Asia) 2025 campaign on Wednesday at the Coca-Coca Arena here.
The Bolts actually charged to an 18-6 start and established a double-digit lead during that period for a potential breakaway, only for the Broncos to find their rhythm and flip the script in their favor — never to let up.
Not even a late-game attempt to save themselves could change the outcome. The reigning PBA Philippine Cup champions eventually bowed out of the quarterfinals, ending their campaign with two losses in three outings overall.
“We started well. Then we really disappeared for a couple of quarters,” Coach Nenad Vucinic said. “We managed to come back towards the end of the game, had a chance to win, but probably, overall, we deserved to lose that game.”
“It wasn’t our day today; shooting was really off for most of the players. I think the opposing team really deserves to be in the Semi-Final,” he added.
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Jordon Varnado finished with 23 points and 14 rebounds, while guard Glynn Watson made 22 points, five rebounds, and seven assists plus three steals and a block. The two reinforcements showed the way for Meralco once again.
Bong Quinto supplied 12 points, including the split from the foul line to cut what was once an 11-point gap to two, 80-78, with 1:09 left.
Unfortunately, that proved to be their last gasp, with Saruul-erdene Enkhbaatar and young winger Azbayar Altangerel combining to shoot three of their last four free throws inside the final 18.8 seconds to finish the match.
John Egbunu was the only other double-digit scorer for the Bolts with 10 points and eight rebounds. Main man Chris Newsome went scoreless in the 28 minutes he played, missing all of his seven shots before fouling out late.
Nonetheless, it was still a respectable campaign for the MVP Group-owned franchise for getting past the group stage, although it would’ve preferred to emulate their 2018 campaign in Asia’s highest club competition.
There, they managed to go all the way to the semifinals before a team that didn’t have key cogs like Newsome and Cliff Hodge went on to finish fourth.
Soon, Meralco will be heading back to Manila to resume their PBA Season 49 campaign, shifting their focus on defending the all-Filipino crown as the conference quarterfinals begin exactly a week from now on June 18.
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Ian Miller, on the other hand, led Ulaanbaatar Xac with 32 points, three rebounds, and six assists as the veteran guard bannered the turnaround.
He helped out in stringing together the crucial 13-0 scoring spree that turned a 55-48 deficit into a 61-55 lead in the third, and they would remain in the driver’s seat, before leading another huge assault early in the deciding period.
Miller nailed a floater from the baseline and then knocked down a three-pointer, before Barsbold Baatar Erdene came in with a bucket of his own as the Broncos established a 70-59 lead with less than eight minutes remaining.
Soon, they’d find themselves authoring history anew as the BCL Asia-East 2025 champions became the first-ever team from Mongolia to go this far in the tournament formerly known as the FIBA Asia Champions Cup.
Ulaanbaatar Xac will face 2024-25 B.League champions Utsunomiya in the semis set June 12. The Brex earlier eliminated Tabiat of Iran.
