MACAU — Zhejiang Guangsha Lions denied San Miguel a graceful exit in its East Asia League Terrific 12 debut as it held on for a 91-89 victory in the battle for third place on Sunday.
The Lions controlled the game most of the way and turned back repeated rallies by the Beermen to bag the US$50,000 prize money (around P2.6 million).
San Miguel settled for fourth place, the same finish achieved by NLEX in last year's edition of the Super League.
Guangsha lost an eight-point lead going home but heaved a sigh of relief when Dezmine Wells' desperate three-point attempt from the backcourt came up short to the utter disappointment of the Filipino crowd at the Tap Seac Multisport Pavilion.
Jinqiu Hu led the Lions - coached by former Australia national mentor Brian Goorjian, with 31 points and six rebounds and Jalen Reynolds had a double-double of 22 points and 15 rebounds.
"We were heartbroken last night but managed to turn things around today," said Yujia Wu of the Lions, who suffered a sorry 77-76 loss to the Seoul SK Knights in the semifinals on Saturday.
San Miiguel, coming off a 111-89 rout at the hands of Liaoning Flying Leopards, again showed up with one-less player on its roster as big man Christian Standhardinger sat out the match to rest a hurting knee.
Import Dezmine Wells carried the fight for the depleted Beermen with 33 points while Alex Cabagnot added 15 as the duo rallied the team back from as much as a 77-85 deficit late in the fourth to threaten at 89-91 on a three-pointer by Wells with 2.6 seconds lef.
The Lions turned over the ball in the next possession, but the Beermen, already without a timeout, were only left with sixth-tenth of a second to convert a game-winning shot.
Lester Prosper finished with a double-double for San Miguel with 16 and 11 rebounds.
The scores
Zhejiang Guangsha (91) - Hu 31, Reynolds 22, Jackson 18, Su 8, Zhu 5, Sun 4, Liu 2, Wu 1.
San Miguel (89) - Wells 33, Prosper 16, Cabagnot 15, Nabong 14, Ganuelas-Rosser 6, Pessumal 3, Santos 2, Ross 0, Romeo 0.
Quarterscores: 18-18; 37-24; 63-62; 91-89.
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