EASL: Meralco bounces back, San Miguel falters anew

Sports

THE Meralco Bolts got back on the winning track while the San Miguel Beermen still couldn’t end their slump as the two squads contrasting fates at the resumption of their respective campaigns in the East Asian Super League (EASL) Home And Away Season 2 Wednesday night, November 13, at the PhilSports Arena.

The Bolts chalked up a come-from-behind win over the Busan KCC Egis, 81-80, while the Beermen struggled all night and bowed to the Taoyuan Pilots, 101-85.

Bouncing back from a tough 74-77 loss to the Ryukyu Golden Kings, Meralco improved to 2-1 (win-loss) in Group B.

The Beermen crashed to 0-2 in Group A.

Akil Mitchell powered Meralco with a game-high 33 points, 11 of them he dumped in the fourth quarter that sealed the Bolts come-from-behind victory.

Mitchell added 22 rebounds for the Bolts, who also drew 14 points from their other import, DJ Kennedy.

Former NBA player Deonte Burton fired 26 points to lead Busan, which fell to 0-2.

San Miguel, on the other hand, had no answer for Taoyuan’s onslaught with Alec Brown, Lu Chun-Hsiang and Trevon Graham scoring at will to finish with a combined 75 points.

Brown tallied 27 points while Chun-Hsiang and Graham each had 24 as Taoyuan remained undefeated in two games.

Quincy Miller led the Beermen with 23 points and three rebounds. June Mar Fajardo scored just seven points but he had 11 boards.

THE SCORES

GROUP A

TAOYUAN (101) -- Brown 27, Graham 25, Lu 25, Pai 11, Li 5, Lin 2, Dieng 2, Chen 2, Kuan 2, Lin 0, Qiao 0.

SAN MIGUEL(85) -- Miller 32, Trollano 13, Anosike 8, Perez 8, Fajardo 7, Tautuaa 5, Romeo 4, Cruz 4, Rosales 3, Ross 1, Teng 0, Brondial 0.

QUARTERSCORES: 25-20; 57-33; 83-56; 101-85.

GROUP B

MERALCO (81)- Mitchell 33, Kennedy 14, Newsome 8, Quinto 8, Kouame 8, Hodge 6, Banchero 4, Caram 0.

BUSAN KCC EGIS (80) - Burton 26, Lee G 14, Heo 14, Lee S 9, Williams 9, Jung 6, Lee H 2, Yeo 0, Epistola 0.

QUARTERSCORES: 20-26; 42-53; 63-68; 81-80.(CCM)