MANILA – San Miguel Beermen settled for a fourth place finish in the East Asia League Terrific 12 after a 91-89 loss to Zhejiang Guangsha Lions in the battle for third place at the Tap Seac Multisport Pavilion in Macau, China.
The Beermen fell behind early in the match and mounted a comeback several times but fell short to surrender the third place trophy and US$50,000 prize money to the Lions.
Coming off a 111-89 loss to Liaoning Flying Leopards in the semifinals, the Beermen was able to keep in step with the Lions in the opening period on Sunday night before struggling in the second frame for a 24-37 halftime deficit.
The Lions continued to have the advantage in the second half and were clinging to an 85-77 advantage late in the period before the Beermen staged a huge run to come to within 89-91 on a triple by Dezmine Wells.
The Beermen had an opportunity to snatch the victory after the Lions turned the ball over with sixth tenth of a second remaining. However, the desperation heave of Wells was way off the mark.
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.
Wells finished with 33 points while Alex Cabagnot added 15 markers.
The Beermen played their final game of the match minus injured centers June Mar Fajardo and Christian Standhardinger./PN
