BANGKOK (Thailand) - Chanatip Jakrawan was pleased with the poise Hi-Tech Basketball Club showed to escape Johor in easily one of the more thrilling BCL Asia-East 2026 games last April 17 in the latter's own turf.
The defending three-time Basketball Thai League champions were cool, calm, and collected in hacking out the 91-89 decision in their favor, with Pongsakorn Jaimsawad spelling the difference in the clutch.
The lefty guard knocked down timely hits from beyond the arc to repel the home team for good, and to have done so in front of a raucous, near-5,000 pro-Southern Tigers fans makes it all the more impressive.
"We played to our standard," the star big man said moments after the match at the Arena Larkin Indoor Stadium, which beautifully capped off what had been a dramatic caravan of this year's pan-regional contest.
Dramatic, we say? That's because all games played in Johor Bahru came down to the wire, and were decided by no more than 5 points, making it arguably one of the best windows that this season has seen.
Of course, Hi-Tech themselves were among the reasons why there was no shortage of action in that city.
Before that narrow win against their Major Basketball League counterparts, the crew gave Dewa United Banten a massive scare through a 35-point fourth-quarter eruption, but ultimately bowed in overtime, 99-94.
They could've gone 2-0 in the window but a split isn't that bad, for sure. Plus, their win-loss record 4 games into the 2026 games is already an improvement from the inaugural BCL Asia-East edition last year.
From winning just once in their first 4 games in the 2025 tilt, Hi-Tech are currently at 2-2 in the standings, and are sitting at no. 2 behind the reigning Indonesian Basketball League champions (3-1) and above Johor (1-3).
"We'd like to keep the second spot," offered head coach Pachakorn Lertlaokul, himself a former player who's now in his second season at the helm. "We try to win every window, we try to give everything we have."
Definitely, it's a good spot to be in, now that the Group Phase is heading into its final lap.
Group A will be finishing its games on April 30 to May 2, and it would be Hi-Tech's turn to maximize homecourt advantage as they will be hosting Dewa United and the Southern Tigers at the Nimibutr Stadium.
And Jakrawan only has one guarantee.
"We will do better in the games in Bangkok," he said.
The BCL Asia-East 2026 is about to head into the Final 6. To know more about the remaining games of the Group Phase, and to see a better view of how the entire competition plays out, take a look here.
FIBA