JOHOR BAHRU (Malaysia) - South China Athletic completed their Cinderella run by annexing the BCL Asia-East 2026 title after a 113-103 win over Taoyuan Pauian in the Final, Sunday night at the Arena Larkin Indoor Stadium.
The HKA1 outfit took the lead early before pulling away for good in the third quarter to emphatically cap off a massive turnaround by a team that struggled to put together a winning run early in the tilt.
From winning just once in their first four games, the crew flipped the switch with a crucial win against the Chinggis Broncos to end their regular season on a high - a result that soon brought them to the Final 6.
They then went on a tear come the league's culminating event, winning both of their assignments in the Group Phase before repeating against the Mongolian powerhouse in the Semi-Finals, thus ending their reign.
And some 24 hours later, they'd go on to finish their story by frustrating the very same team that they actually beat just last Thursday, which handed the Pilots their first loss of the season after a blazing 7-0 start.
That familiarity surely played a role in the rematch, as SCAA already built a lead big enough during the fourth that the game basically became a coronation waiting to happen for the pride of Hong Kong, China basketball.
"We were almost kicked out in Mongolia," recalled head coach Lo Yi Ting, referring to that 86-84 escape against the Broncos at Ulaanbaatar last May 5, as a loss that night meant the end of their campaign.
"Now, we [finished with] four straight wins," he added, as they went 4-0 in the Final 6. "I know game by game, day by day, we're getting better. After the first two games here in Malaysia, everyone became confident."
Kyvon Davenport led South China with 30 points and 11 rebounds, with Glen Yang delivering 24 points and 6 assists as the tandem sparked their 33-point showing in the third canto to start the breakaway,
The 29-year-old Yang himself would make it a double celebration for him and the team as he took home Most Valuable Player honors, becoming its second-ever winner after Broncos star Ian Miller from last year.
"It wasn't an easy start. We went 1-4 to start. But like Coach said, it was game by game - we're learning on the fly," he said. "We really didn't know where it was gonna go, but we just kept believing and we never gave up."
Isaiah Briscoe, touted as a key acquisition that helped generate the great reversal, supplied 19 points. Young star Kelvin Tsang came through with 19 points as well, on top of 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block.
Rodrigue Andela notched a double-double of 15 points and 15 rebounds as the bruising forward indeed proved that he and SCAA have what it takes to win the whole thing after nailing their first win of the season last April.
"This is a legendary moment," expressed Lo. "In the very beginning, we never thought that we could bring the championship to SCAA ... This is a legendary moment for all of us. We want to enjoy this moment."
Will Artino, on the other hand, had 35 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Pilots, who settled for another runner-up finish as the BCL Asia-East crown continued to be elusive for the contenders out of Chinese Taipei.
Still, they tried to fight back one last time and got to within 8 points twice inside the final 50 seconds, but the spread was just simply too big to overcome, given as well the short amount of time left in the bout.
Justin Lu had 22 points, while Li Chia-Kang chipped in 10 points as usual suspects Alec Brown and Setric Millner, Jr. were far from the usual, as the usually potent duo combined for only 13 points in the loss.
Despite the result, both Taoyuan Pauian and South China are headed to the BCL Asia 2026.
FIBA