Standhardinger delivers ‘out of this world’ performance for Hong Kong

Christian Stanhardinger goes up for a shot during Hong Kong Eastern’s game vs Mono Vampire in the ASEAN Basketball League. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

BANGKOK — Coming into the 2018 ASEAN Basketball League with tons of fanfare, Christian Standhardinger is certainly backing up his hype with his impressive play for the defending champion Hong Kong Eastern Sports Club.

Through three games, the Fil-German forward is averaging 28.3 points, 12.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 3.0 steals, and on Friday, he churned out a stupendous showing with 40 points, 17 rebounds, three assists and five steals in a 112-105 win over Mono Vampire.

The 40-point outburst was the most by any Heritage Import since Matthew Wright put up 41 for the Westports Malaysia Dragons back in 2016.

“He played an out of this world game and I really have to thank him for that,” praised Hong Kong coach Edu Torres.

The 28-year-old Standhardinger, though, doesn’t want to get too excited about his torrid start.

“I have a lot to learn. I’ll never be done with improving and learning,” he said as he opted to nitpick on his mistakes rather than his brilliance. “I had three easy layups that I missed so I apologize to Marcus (Elliott), Tyler (Lamb), and Adam (Xu) because I messed up their assists.”

Hong Kong missed the services of World Import Ryan Moss, who was denied entry here in Thailand due to Visa issues. Not helping their cause was three of their starters, namely Lamb, Lee Ki, and Tang Chi Hang fouled out, putting more pressure for Standhardinger to deliver.

The charismatic big man shared all the praise to his fellow players as they kept their side unbeaten and now at joint first place with Chinese club Chong Son Kung Fu.

“Ryan Moss is a big part of this team and it’s very important for us as a team to compensate for losing such a good player. I’m happy that we were able to do that. The victory is the most important thing for me, so I’m happy that everything worked out,” he said.

And that’s just the mentality Standhardinger has as he continues his voyage in the ABL.

“I’m very excited of the journey and to hopefully get better every single day,” he said.