Meralco suffered another heartbreaker in the continental stage after losing to B.League’s Alvark Tokyo, 84-73, in the Fiba Asia Champions Cup Friday at Nonthaburi Province Stadium.
The Bolts are now at 0-2 in Group B and will now hope for the other teams in their pool to lose their respective games for them to have at least a chance of entering the semifinals.
Only the top two-teams in the group will advance to the next round.
Meralco managed to hold on to a 60-60 tie early in the fourth but Alvark got on a small 6-0 run to take a 66-60 lead after Milko Bjelica’s free throws at the 6:57 mark of the quarter.
That small scoring spurt proved to be enough separation for the Japanese club as it held on for the win.
Allen Durham put up 31 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for the Bolts while fellow import Diamond Stone added 28 points and eight boards.
Alex Kirk led Alvark with 23 points and 11 rebounds while Daiki Tanaka added 17 points, five boards, and seven assists.