Abando, Anyang extend Tropang Giga EASL woes in South Korea
RHENZ Abando and his Korean club Anyang Jung Kwan Jang extended TNT鈥檚 woes in the East Asia Super League (EASL) via a 105-97 verdict Wednesday night in South Korea.
The high-flying Mr. Abando dropped 13 points, two rebounds and three assists to backstop Seonwon Choi (24) and Darryl Monroe (21 markers with 10 rebounds and nine assists) in Anyang鈥檚 second straight win in Group A.
The Red Boosters pushed the undermanned Tropang Giga (0-4) to the brink.
鈥淲e鈥檙e disappointed, we feel we could have come out better and played a better game,鈥 said assistant coach Josh Reyes, who was tasked with the coaching chore in the road game.
Quincy Miller (35-9), Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (29-8) and Calvin Oftana (25 spiked by five triples) carried the load for TNT, which played without veteran playmaker Jayson Castro in addition to injured or sick stalwarts like RR Pogoy and Poy Erram.
鈥淚t鈥檚 no secret that back home in the PBA we鈥檝e been facing a lot of challenges as a squad but it鈥檚 no excuse how we came out and performed today, especially in the second half,鈥 said Mr. Reyes.
The match was marred by a commotion near the end involving Mr. Monroe and TNT senior consultant Chot Reyes. It started when Mr. Monroe stood near the Tropang Giga鈥檚 huddle taking a peek at the play being drawn up.
鈥淏oth teams were competing hard, both players and everybody in our delegation. It was just a situation where we wanted to show everybody that we鈥檙e here for business,鈥 said the younger Mr. Reyes.
鈥淚f we feel there鈥檚 some disrespect happening then we want to stand up against that. It鈥檚 not a diss to Mr. Monroe. He was just out there trying to do what鈥檚 within the rules. It鈥檚 just two teams and two individuals competing at the highest level.鈥
Mr. Monroe apologized for his action.
鈥淔irst of all, I wanted to apologize for the small incident during the game. To coach, to the team, to any fans 鈥 if I disrespected you guys, I just want to apologize and say I鈥檓 sorry. I didn鈥檛 mean to do anything malicious or anything like that,鈥 he said. 鈥 Olmin Leyba
The Scores:
Anyang 105 鈥 Choi 24, Moore 21, Abando 13, Ko 14, J.Park 12, Hyogeun 10, Spellman 7, Woo 2, Jonghyun 2.
TNT 97 鈥 MIller 35, Hollis-Jefferson 29, Oftana 25, Heruela 4, Khobuntin 0, Tungcab 0, Ponferada 0, Aurin 0,
Quarterscores: 32-26, 58-44, 80-67, 105-97.
