JOHOR BAHRU (Malaysia) - Johor showed better poise to escape the erstwhile unbeaten Dewa United Banten, 90-87, for their first win in the BCL Asia-East 2026 at the Arena Larkin Indoor Stadium, Thursday night.
The Southern Tigers actually coughed up an early 19-point lead and even trailed during the fourth quarter, but the crew collectively restored order before outlasting the visitors down the stretch to snap a winless spell.
Chee Wei Lim scored 3 straight to erase the 75-77 deficit, before Aaron Geramipoor, Scottie Lewis, and Ahmed Hill came in to push their lead to 84-79 with 1:24 left for a good enough cushion to keep their foes at bay.
Hill himself was responsible in maintaining the distance when their Indonesian counterparts cut the gap to as close as one, 88-87, nailing both of his foul shots with 6.3 seconds to spare for the eventual scoreline.
Sooner, the final buzzer rang and all of Johor would celebrate with the solid home crowd in attendance, as they finally nabbed their first win in the pan-regional league after starting out with back-to-back losses.
"Luckily, we won the game," exhaled head coach Yong Kian Ann shortly after the pulsating affair, before beaming with much pride with what the Malaysian ball club had just accomplished. "This is history for JST."
Lewis starred in the victory with 30 points and 5 rebounds, and also added 3 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks to submit a full line - and net an efficiency of 28 - on the way to bagging home Player of the Game honors.
Hill tallied 24 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists and finished with an efficiency of 30 to lead all players, while the bruising Geramipoor contributed 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting from the field and 6 rebounds.
"I appreciate all our imports and our locals, and I appreciate all of our fans. They've been helping us a lot," said Yong as over 2,500 screaming souls buoyed the Southern Tigers in getting back at the IBL champs.
It could be remembered that they fell to 0-2 in the contest after absorbing a 91-79 defeat to the same team during the new season's opening window in Tangerang, in the process allowing the latter to zoom to a 2-0 start.
But they'd managed to gain a measure of payback against a team that competed with tired legs, as Dewa United were coming off a tough 99-94 overtime victory over Hi-Tech Basketball Club some 24 hours ago.
Yet it didn't seem to be the case for Coach Agustin Julbe's men, who after staring at a 37-18 deficit after the first 10 minutes, roared back with a 36-point eruption in the next period to make it a 54-56 gap at the half.
That became the start of a tight affair and momentum appeared to have finally shifted their way, when Rio Disi broke the deadlock with a pull-up jumper to give themselves the 77-75 lead with 5:27 to go.
However, Johor simply wouldn't be denied, with Chee & Co. quick to take the lead back for good. They'd go up by five twice, the last at 86-81 following a Geramipoor hook shot with 25.4 seconds remaining.
Still, Dewa United made a last-ditch effort in trying to keep their record intact, with DJ Cooper and Disi hitting one from deep to make it a one-point game. Then again, Hill was there, and time was no longer enough.
"We have a tough schedule in the IBL with many back-to-back situations, so we should be used to that," offered head coach Agustin Julbe, when asked how much fatigue played a factor in their first loss of the season.
"Of course, having played yesterday affected our performance. But we cannot use it as an excuse because we must be ready for that," added the Spanish mentor, whose team fell to 3-1 but remained atop Group A.
Dio Saputra led Dewa United with 19 points. Cooper had 18 points as he was more assertive on scoring this time, although there remained the conscious effort on his part to run the one with 7 rebounds and 13 assists.
Joshua Ibarra made 16 points and 8 rebounds plus 1 steal, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. Troy Gillenwater made only 16 points on 18 attempts as he was hounded by foul trouble, while Disi added 14 points in the defeat.
Dewa United will now look ahead to the Bangkok stop of the caravan on April 30 to May 2 while the Southern Tigers will conclude their homestand against Hi-Tech tomorrow, Friday, at 20:30 local time as well.
FIBA