THE MERALCO BOLTS fell short in their late fight-back against the Ryukyu Golden Kings and absorbed a 74-77 loss on the road on Wednesday night in the East Asia Super League (EASL).
Off a 66-77 deficit, DJ Kennedy, Bong Quinto and Allen Durham pumped life back into Meralco with an 8-0 bomb in the last 2:33 but the Bolts failed to follow through as Mr. Durham’s potential tying trey at the buzzer foiled by Ryukyu’s Vic Law.
The result that was witnessed by a record crowd of 7,347 at the Okinawa Arena lifted the Golden Kings to the top in Group B with 1-0 while denying the Bolts (1-1) a followup to their 97-85 win over the Macau Black Bears on tipoff night.
Mr. Kennedy fired 30 points and grabbed 12 rebounds as Mr. Durham, playing against his former team in the B. League, and Chris Newsome added 18 apiece for the visiting Meralco.
The Bolts missed the inside presence and hustle plays of Cliff Hodge, who attended to his wife as she delivered their first-born baby in Manila.
The reigning PBA Philippine Cup titlists found themselves playing catchup after giving up 28 points to the home squad and scoring only 11 in the second quarter.
Ryukyu seemed poised to cruise to the easy win when Mr. Law made it an 11-point contest with under three minutes to go in the fourth.
But Meralco mounted a searing rally touched off by Mr. Kennedy’s jumper and followed by Mr. Quinto’s back-to-back buckets and two freebies by Mr. Durham to get to within three points with still 41.7 ticks left.
After forcing Mr. Law to a missed jumper, the Bolts got 20 seconds to make a move but their last offensive featuring Mr. Durham beyond the arc fizzed out.
Luigi Trillo’s charges will regroup for now before seeking to rebound in a home gig on Nov. 13 against Korea’s Busan KCC Egis. — Olmin Leyba
The scores
Ryukyu 77 – Law 18, Cooley 18, Kirk 12, Eumatsu 9, Matsuwaki 9, Waki 6, Kishimoto 3, Arakawa 2, Onodera 0.
Meralco 74 – Kennedy 30, Durham 18, Newsome 18, Kouame 4, Quinto 4, Bates 0, Almazan 0, Caram 0.
Quarter scores: 23-18; 51-35; 66-57; 77-74.