Xinjiang Flying Tigers vs PBA D League All Stars Ieco Green Warriors during The Asia League’s ‘The Terrific 12’ at Studio City Event Center on 20 September 2018, in Macau, Macau. Photo by Marcio Rodrigo Machado / Power Sport Images for Asia League
MACAU—iECO’s valiant stand came up a few baskets short as it fell to Xinjiang, 107-103, in its final match in Group C of the Asia League The Terrific 12 Thursday at Studio City Events Center here in Macau.
Xinjiang held a 90-81 lead early in the fourth but the Green Warriors made a spirited 20-7 run to take a 101-97 lead after Joshua Monzun’s jumper with 3:10 left in the game.
The Green Warriors’ lead, however, proved to be short-lived as the Flying Tigers came roaring back with a 7-0 run with Darius Adams capping it off with a driving layup for the 104-101 lead with 1:13 remaining.
“Today we displayed that we can compete and I am proud of the effort my players and I’m thankful to Tiras because he came in short notice,” said iECO head coach Ariel Vanguardia whose team ended with a 0-2 card.
Tiras Wade, who was nothing short of great, missed a crucial layup that could’ve given iECO a 103-102 lead before Adams’ layup.
Avery Schrarer was the next one to miss out on crucial points when he blanked his two free throws right after Adams’ clutch basket.
“The game was really good and intense, it was the little mistakes that caused us the game,” said Wade who came in as Richard Howell’s replacement after the latter got injured in iECO’s first game.
“We missed a lot of easy shots and if we made those and focused on the key things we could’ve gotten the win,” added Wade who led the Green Warriors with 24 points and 14 rebounds.
Samuel Logwood added 21 points and nine rebounds for iECO while Monzun and Gab Banal each had 16 points.
Adams lit up for the Flying Tigers with 45 points, eight rebounds, and eight assists with Chinese international Abudushalamu Abudurexiti putting in 19 points and 11 boards.