ULAANBAATAR (Mongolia) - Ian Miller saved his best for last to lead Ulaanbaatar Xac in capturing the BCL Asia-East 2025 championship by downing Taoyuan Pauian, 86-77, at the MBank Arena on Saturday night.
The star guard dropped a personal-high 30 points alongside 8 assists as he spearheaded their crucial second-half assault to take control of the game for good on the way to authoring history for Mongolian basketball.
A team that fell just short of advancing in last year's BCL Asia Qualifiers, the Broncos have indeed grown from there and became the first club to give the country its first championship in the regional level.
They did it in sweeping fashion, too, going a perfect 8-0 in the whole tilt to hoist the coveted trophy that serves as an icing on the cake for a side that's already assured of a spot in the BCL Asia 2025 next week.
"Last year, the BCL Asia was a new league for us," reflected head coach Ariunbold Erdene. "At that moment, we didn't have experience internationally. But our management made it a goal for us to go forward this year."
And definitely among the major changes behind this massive turnaround was bringing in Miller, who went on to bag home BCL Asia-East MVP honors for steering the club to an undefeated campaign.
His leadership was on full display in the Final, most especially down the stretch when he nailed five points in a row to give themselves the 80-72 lead with 4:05 remaining in the game as the Pilots struggled to keep up.
"It means the world to us, it means the world to everybody in here," said the Florida State product, who shot 55-percent from the floor, including 6-of-12 from deep. "This is what we worked for.
"This is what the Broncos organization and the Mongolian basketball league worked for," he added.
Taoyuan, of course, tried to muster one last attempt to put themselves back in the game but they just couldn't string together a decent rally, and it didn't help that Ulaanbaatar Xac were too difficult to stop anymore.
Azbayar Altangerel would go on to seal the triumph, knocking down both of his free throws with 32.1 seconds left to play for the eventual count as the opposition had no other choice but to concede.
Barsbold Baatar Erdene supplied 15 points, which he all earned from beyond the arc with a 5-of-10 clip. Altangerel delivered 11 points while Ikhbayar Chuluunbaatar added 10 in the win that saw the crew hit 16 threes.
Surely, the Broncos will look to sustain their success in the BCL Asia 2025 on June 7-13, where they will be the first Mongolian team in 13 years to participate in Asia's most prestigious club competition.
The Pilots, on the other hand, were led by Alec Brown with 22 points and 6 rebounds in the loss. Lu Chun-Hsiang made 16 points and 7 assists. Julian Boyd had 12 points and 10 rebounds while Jarrod Jones added 11.
Despite the defeat, Taoyuan are still headed to BCL Asia, together with Ulaanbaatar Xac.
FIBA