Bolts, Tropang Giga fall in EASL games

MANILA, Philippines – Allen Durham and the Ryukyu Golden Kings gave the depleted Meralco Bolts a rude welcome in the East Asia Super League after blasting the Philippine team, 89-61, Wednesday night at the Okinawa Arena in Japan.

Durham, a former Meralco import in the PBA, finished with a near double-double with 16 points, nine rebounds and six assists.

The Bolts, who played without key cogs Allein Maliksi, Chris Banchero and one of their imports Suleiman Braimoh, led by four, 21-17, after the first quarter.

They hiked the lead to six, 28-22, in the second quarter after a layup by Bong Quinto.

But a pair of Jack Cooley free throws gave Ryukyu a two-point lead to cap an 8-0 run, 30-28.

This sparked a massive second quarter rally that saw the Golden Kings grab a 48-34 lead at the half with a Cooley jumper.

A Durham trey at the 8:23 mark of the third quarter capped a 9-0 blitz by Ryukyu to start the frame as the lead ballooned to 23, 57-34.

The game’s biggest margin was 29, 88-59, after Filipino Carl Tamayo finished an alley-oop with 38 seconds remaining in the game.

Keita Imamura led Ryukyu with 19 points built on five 3-pointers.

Cooley had 12 points and eight boards.

Tamayo finished with seven points in 17 minutes of play.

Chris Newsome led the Bolts with 11 points in the game, but he shot 2-of-8 from the field.

Import Prince Ibeh and swingman Cliff Hodge had 10 points apiece.

Meanwhile, the Taipei Futon Braves dealt the TNT Tropang Giga their third straight loss in the tournament, 106-97, at the Taipei Heping Basketball Gymnasium also on Wednesday night.

While Quincy Miller and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson scored 34 and 33 points, respectively, for the Bolts, Taipei’s 50.65% shooting from the field was too much to overcome.

The two sides traded leads various times throughout the first half.

Taipei, however, started to pull away in the third quarter, as they turned a 56-58 deficit to an 84-75 lead heading into the fourth.

TNT cut the lead to just three, 88-91, with 5:46 remaining, but a 9-0 run capped by a Michael Singletary jumper with 2:59 left in the game shut the door for TNT.

Chris Johnson had 29 points and nine rebounds to lead the Braves, while Singletary