JOHOR BAHRU (Malaysia) - The usual suspects came through to lift South China Athletic past Hi-Tech Basketball Club, 92-90, in the BCL Asia-East 2026 Final 6 opener at the Arena Larkin Indoor Stadium, Tuesday.
Rodrigue Andela converted Glen Yang's pocket pass to erase a 90-89 deficit with 5.6 seconds remaining, putting the team ahead for good after finding themselves trailing by four with less than five minutes to go.
New guy Isaiah Briscoe then made a huge stop by forcing Acchaeus Fields to commit a backing violation, before Kyvon Davenport settled the final count with a split from the line with only 2.1 seconds to spare.
The whole crew would then lean on defense in the final possession, preventing Eric Freeman from catching the inbound lob for the tie as time expired to complete the comeback - and take the early lead in Group B.
Coach Lo Yi Ting, however, was far from pleased with what he saw from his men, pointing out issues that made it a tight affair - issues they hope to address when they face the 6-0 Taoyuan Pauian on Thursday.
"It was a close game. We did a bad job on transition defense; They scored 15 points off transition. And we gave up too many defensive rebounds, that's why we made the game so close," he lamented.
Davenport top-scored for the HKA1 outfit with 25 points and 9 rebounds, and also collected 5 of the team's 12 steals on his way to earning Player of the Game honors as he netted an efficiency of 25.
Andela made 24 points and 6 rebounds, while Briscoe tallied 22 points, 4 rebounds, 7 assists, and 3 steals in his first-ever BCL Asia-East game as the troika combined for 71 of South China's total points.
Yang finished with 13 points, spiked by three triples, including one off a Briscoe kick-out that gave them an 87-86 lead with 3:33 on the clock, helping set up the see-saw battle that ensued all the way to the end.
"It was a good first game for the guys. Just glad we got the win," offered Briscoe. "It wasn't the best game for us, but I finally got my feet wet. It's my first time playing with this group, I'm just glad we got the win."
Put to naught by the loss, on the other hand, was the 25-point, 18-rebound effort of Eric Freeman to lead Hi-Tech, who actually built a 79-72 advantage early in the deciding chapter but could not hold on to it.
Fields backed him up with 16 points, 4 rebounds, and 5 assists against 5 turnovers. Freddie Lish had 13 points, while Chanatip Jakrawan and Spencer Williams-Rodgers chipped in 12 and 10 points, respectively.
Williams-Rodgers was responsible for giving the Basketball Thai League side the aforementioned one-point lead with 24.9 seconds left, canning in his free throws off an unsportsmanlike foul by Leung Shiu Wah.
They had a chance to add more to it but Lish's floater hit the back rim with about 17 seconds to play, and that proved to be the beginning of the end for them as Andela & Co. swooped in to steal the win.
FIBA