THE EASL playoffs curse continues for the Meralco Bolts.
The PBA side ran smack into a hot-shooting Ryukyu Golden Kings side and suffered an 88-79 loss as it fell short once again of making the post-season of the regional league for the third straight year.
The visiting team hit its first basket from three-point range and that set the tone of the one-sided midweek match at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
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It was 10-2 just a few minutes into the first quarter, before the lead eventually ballooned to its biggest at 20 in the third.
The Bolts recovered their bearings a bit in the fourth quarter, but the Golden Kings were poised enough to survive Meralco's furious comeback and dealt the loss that led to another early exit for the Philippine representative.
"We had a very good start and we had a very good shooting touch. And obviously, we were able to take the initiative," said Ryukyu head coach Dai Oketani.
The Golden Kings shot 49 percent from he field, including a sizzling 50 percent from the three-point arc (14-of-28),
Yoshiyuki Matsuwaki went 6-of-9 from beyond the arc to finish with a team-high 18 points, while Vic Law went 3-of-6 for 15 points.
"We played well against a good Meralco team," admitted Law afterwards.
By finishing with a 5-1 record and claiming the top seed in Group B, Ryukyu will advance to the semifinals of the EASL Finals set March 18 to 20 in Macau.
Ismael Romero led Meralco with 24 points and nine rebounds while leading the fourth-quarter charge of the team that fell short in the end.
Fellow import Cady Lalanne, on loan from NLEX, added 18 and naturalized player Justin Brownlee had 12 and six assists but shot just 3-of-13 from the floor.
Nonetheless, the 3-3 record of Meralco to end its Season 3 campaign was the best ever recorded by any PBA team since the tournament adopted the home-and-away format.
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.
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