MACAO – Utsunomiya Brex rallied back from a nine-point deficit in the fourth quarter to stun top seed Ryukyu Golden Kings, 103-96, for a place in the championship round of the EASL Finals Friday night at the Studio City Event Center.
Trailing 74-83 early in the final period, Utsunomiya triggered a 15-4 run anchored by imports Grant Jerrett and DJ Newbill to wrest the upperhand at 89-87.
And when the Golden Kings tied the game for the last time at 89, Utsunomiya finally went for the kill by outscoring its B. League counterpart, 8-0, to finally take control of their semifinals match.
Utsunomiya will now face Taoyuan Pauian Pilots in Sunday’s finale with the top prize money of $1.5 million awaiting the champion.
The Pilots routed another top seed in Alvark Tokyo, 102-75, in the other semifinals pairing.
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Photo: EASL
Both Utsunomoya and Taoyuan went through the quarterfinals to advance.
Utsunomiya drubbed the New Taipei Kings, 85-64, while Taoyuan dismantled Arvin Tolentino and the Seoul SK Knights, 89-69.
It was a heartbreaker of a loss for Ryukyu, which advanced outright to the semifinals after dealing the Meralco Bolts an 88-79 win in the final day of the group stage to emerge as one of the best two teams after the eliminations along with Alvark.
Newbill almost finished with a triple double for Utsunomiya with 29 points, eight rebounds, and nine assists, while Jerrett also had 29 points, seven rebounds, and four assists.
Alex Kirk submitted 23 points and nine rebounds, and Jack Cooley came through with a double-double of 21 and 12 rebounds for Ryukyu, which is being handled by Japan men’s basketball team coach Dai Oketani.
The Golden Kings are set to play the Pilots in the battle for third place worth $375,000
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The scores
Utsunomiya 103 — Newbill 29, Jerrett 29, Hiejima 14, Takashima 10, Endo 9, Ogawa 6, Edwards 6, Takeuchi 0, Ikaruga 0.
Ryukyu 96 – Kirk 23, Cooley 21, Kishimoto 16, Law 10, Onodera 8, Sadohara 8, Matsuwaki 5, Arakawa 3, Waki 2, Kobari 0.
Quarterscores: 20-27; 50-46; 63-71; 103-96.
Taoyuan 102 – Artino 26, Graham 24, Brown 18, Lu 13, Pai 6, Kuan 5, Dieng 4, Chen 4, Lin 2, Morrison 0, Li 0, Lin C. 0.
Alvark Tokyo 76 – Fpster 21, Saiz 13, Andp 12, Baranski 9, Toews 8, Osakabe 5, Hiraiwa 5, Nakamura 3, Okura 0, Fukuzawa 0, Ou 0.
Quarterscores: 21-30; 50-54; 79-65; 102-76.
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