Meralco booted out of EASL

Sports

A POST-SEASON appearance remained elusive for the Meralco Bolts as they bowed out of the East Asia League 2025-26 Season after losing to the Ryukyu Golden Kings, 79-88, on Wednesday night, Feb. 11, at the Araneta Coliseum.

Meralco came into the match needing to win by six points for them to advance to the post-season for the first time.

But Ryukyu was having none of it.

The Japanese team was quick to build double-digit leads and by the time the first half ended, it was already up big, 74-58.

The lead ballooned to as high as 20 points in the final half before Meralco staged a belated fightback and moved within five points in the final 40 seconds. The Golden Kings shut the door on the Bolts by going four-for-four from the foul line.

Yoshiyuki Matsuwaki fired a team-high 18 points, import Vic Law added 15 points, while Ryo Sadohara had 13 points for Ryukyu, which advanced to the EASL Finals in Macau on March 18 to 20 after finishing the Group B stage as the top seed with five wins against a solitary loss.

The Bolts ended their campaign with three wins and three losses.

Import Ismael Romero topped the Bolts with 24 points. Cady Lalanne, who replaced the injured Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, added 18 markers, and Justin Brownlee had 12 markers on dismal 3-of-13 shooting from the field.

THE SCORES:

RYUKYU (88) – Matsuwaki 18, Law 15, Kishimoto 13, Sadohara 13, Cooley 10, Kirk 9, Sakihama 5, Waki 5, Arakawa 0, Onodera 0.

MERALCO (79) – Romero 24, Lalanne 18, Brownlee 12, Vahedi 10, Cansino 7, Banchero 3, Newsome 3, Black 2, Brickman 0, Hodge 0.QUARTERSCORES: 26-16; 51-36; 74-58; 88-79.(CCM)