WAN CHAI (Hong Kong, China) - Even with tired legs, South China Athletic still put on a show and walloped New Taipei, 103-82, for their breakthrough win in the BCL Asia-East 2026 at the Southorn Stadium, Tuesday night.
Seen by some to struggle after falling short against the XAC Broncos some 24 hours ago, the crew instead turned in an inspired performance, breaking away in the second chapter to blow out their more experienced foes.
In a much more consistent showing as compared to their debut, Coach Lo Yi Ting's men grabbed the lead early before pouring 27 in the aforementioned period to build a commanding 56-40 lead entering the break.
And it would be all South China since, as the Kings - last year's fourth-place finishers - struggled to find any rhythm in their first game of the new season, ultimately leading to the home team's dominant victory.
"I think we did a good job on executing. And we did a good job handling the pressure on defense. It's a big difference from yesterday. We did a good job," offered Lo, visibly proud of the turnaround.
Five players finished in double figures in the rout, with Rodrigue Andela showing the way with 22 points and 13 rebounds. Young star Kelvin Tsang and Kyvon Davenport, on the other hand, fired 21 points apiece.
Dominic Gilbert flirted with a triple-double after tallying 17 points, 12 rebounds, and 8 assists, while Glen Yang chipped in 12 points and 6 rebounds as last night's heavy hitters finally witnessed their efforts bear fruit.
"I'm so happy for us. But we still have more games, and we'll just do our best to fight. We win together, we lose together," said Lo, whose team shot 53.2-percent from the floor and dominated the boards, 45-30.
South China will try to take advantage of the respite on Wednesday before taking on the Taoyuan Pauian Pilots on Thursday at 20:00 local time to cap off the Hong Kong, China caravan of the pan-regional contest.
New Taipei, on the other hand, were lifted heavily by Jayden Gardner and Jordan Tolbert in the tough loss.
Gardner led all scorers with 31 points and 8 rebounds, while Tolbert - formerly of the NS Matrix Deers and the XAC Broncos - came through with a double-double of 28 points and 10 rebounds against 6 turnovers.
Lee Kai-Yan added 10 points for the TPBL outfit, who trailed by as many as 34.
FIBA