Anyang Jung Kwan Jang Filipino import Rhenz Abando in an EASL Final Four match. –EASL PHOTO
LAPU-LAPU CITY, Cebu—Rhenz Abando and Anyang Jung Kwan Jang’s bid to wrest the East Asia Super League (EASL) title was thwarted by fellow South Korean side Seoul SK Knights, 94-79, Friday night at Hoops Dome here.
Abando finished with 11 points, three rebounds and one block in 20 minutes off the bench but the Red Boosters couldn’t handle the Knights’ second-half surge and went down in defeat in the first match of the tournament’s Final Four.
Import Jameel Warney imposed problems for the Red Boosters with 38 points, 16 rebounds and six assists as the Knights progressed to the championship game for the second straight year.
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Rhenz Abando with five points and two rebounds in the first half which saw Anyang Jung Kwan Jang trail the Seoul SK Knights, 45-40, at the break in the EASL Final Four at Hoops Dome in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu. | @jonasterradoINQ pic.twitter.com/KbkUFnDEGu
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The Knights advanced to Sunday’s final against the winner of the other Final Four matchup between the Japanese side Chiba Jets and the Taiwanese club New Taipei Kings.
Seoul exacted revenge on Anyang after the two teams met in the final of the 2023 Champions Week in Okinawa, Japan where the Abando-reinforced Red Boosters emerged victorious.
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Bob Carter’s 21 points, nine rebounds and six assists were not enough for Anyang to pull off a repeat as it was relegated to a consolation match for third.
Abando came into the ballgame for the first time with 2:35 to go in the first quarter, much to the delight of the predominantly local crowd that came to see the lone Filipino player in the EASL Final Four as one of the main attractions.
The 2023 Fiba World Cup mainstay made three of four attempts, including from three-point range in the second, and had his lone block that led to another huge roar in the fourth.
But the block came at the time when Anyang was already behind by double figures with Warney’s play on both ends leading the Knights’ resolve.