TANGERANG (Indonesia) - Dewa United Banten flexed their no-quit mentality once more and frustrated Johor, 91-79, to complete a two-game sweep of the 2026 BCL Asia-East's opening window, Sunday night.
Similar to the season opener versus Hi-Tech Basketball Club, the IBL outfit found themselves trailing by double digits early but put together a massive third-quarter reversal - much to the delight of the home fans.
With Troy Gillenwater leading the way again, the crew exploded for 30 points in the said period for a 68-59 lead entering the fourth, and then pulled away for good toward seizing the provisional lead in Group A.
"Really happy that we took the two wins here at home," offered Dewa United head coach Agustin Juibe. "And I don't want to forget to congratulate our fans for helping us, they've been very supportive."
Gillenwater top-scored for Dewa United with 29 points behind a 10-of-16 clip from the floor - including a quartet of threes - alongside 8 rebounds, an assist, a steal, and a block for a full line in 32 minutes of play.
Gillenwater scored 11 of his points in the third chapter alone as he helped lead the turnaround, in which they put together a 21-6 rally to flip a seven-point halftime deficit to a 59-51 advantage with 3:07 on the clock.
Momentum would shift their way since, with Gillenwater and Rio Disi conniving for a quick 5-0 run to push their lead to its biggest at 13 points, 87-74, with less than two minutes remaining in the match.
"I think we were a little bit erratic and disconnected to the game in the first half. I think we were rushing a bit on offense ... but we got much better in terms of defensive rhythm, and came out with the win," Juibe said.
Disi and Dio Saputra supplied 13 points apiece. Joshua Ibarra had another double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds, while DJ Cooper fell just short of a triple-double with 11 points, 8 rebounds, and 12 assists.
"It's a good win," said Cooper, who went on to earn Player of the Game honors. "We started off slow, we were trading baskets in the first half, and we made some adjustments - he (Coach) got into us."
"First few minutes [of the third] we played our basketball, and it turned the game around," he added.
Five players finished in double figures in the triumph and that's thanks to their 26 assists as a unit. Their conscious effort to move the ball also led to a solid shooting night, as they converted 50-percent of their shots.
Scottie Lewis, on the other hand, had 29 points to lead the Southern Tigers, who fell to 0-2 as they also felt the weariness after slugging it out with Hi-Tech in a tight overtime affair barely 24 hours ago.
Aaron Geramipoor made 18 points and 10 rebounds. Ting Chun Hong added 11 points and 8 assists, with Ahmed Hill just a point shy of a double-double with 9 points and 11 rebounds for the Major Basketball League side.
The second window of the BCL Asia-East 2026 will start on April 6.
FIBA