MANILA – Hong Kong Eastern overcame a late run by Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings for a 93-90 escape in the 2024-25 PBA Commissioner’s Cup on Sunday night at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City.
Hayden Blankley finished with 25 points, including two free throws with 3.9 seconds left in the game, to go with five rebounds and four assists as the HK Eastern cruised to a 5-1 win-loss slate.
“I am very experienced playing against those guys (Ginebra) and against the same system,” Blankley said after the game. “That experience of us playing against Ginebra helped us in preparing for this game.”
Christopher John McLaughlin added a double-double of 20 points and 21 rebounds, while Ramon Cao and Glen Yang contributed 14 and 11 markers, respectively, for the HK Eastern.
Leading 89-83 with under a minute left, the Gin Kings got a three-point play from Stephen Holt to cut the deficit to 86-89, but Blankley responded with a layup to make it 91-86.
Two free throws each from Japeth Aguilar and Rhon Jay Abarrientos pulled the Gin Kings to within 90-91, but Blankley connected two free throws to increase HK Eastern’s lead to 93-90 before Ginebra’s Earl Scottie Thompson missed on a triple attempt.
HK Eastern head coach Mensur Bajramović admitted that they had a lengthy preparation for the Gin Kings game with the help of Blankley, Yang, and Kobey Lam, who were part of the Bay Area Dragons team that lost to Ginebra in 2023.
“Actually, knowing that Ginebra is a good team, they have good players and good system offensively and defensively, so we really tried to plan against that the past few days and I am glad the players trusted our game plan,” Bajramović said.
“It was a good win for us, I want to congratulate my players, I know how hard it is to play against Ginebra. We now have to turn our focus on our next games,” added the Serbian mentor.
Aguilar led the way with 26 points before exiting late in the game with an injury, Justin Brownlee and Holt had 18 and 14, respectively, while Abarrientos and Jeth Troy Rosario ended with 12 each as they dropped to 2-1./PN
BOX SCORE:
EASTERN 93 – Blankley 25, McLaughlin 20, Cao 14, Yang 11, Lam 8, Chan 6, Guinchard 5, Leung 3, Xu 1, Cheung 0, Zhu 0.
GINEBRA 90 – J. Aguilar 26, Brownlee 18, Holt 14, Abarrientos 12, Rosario 12, Thompson 8, Ahanmisi 0, Cu 0, Adamos 0, R. Aguilar 0.
Quarterscores: 26-25, 54-44, 73-67, 93-90.
