KUALA LUMPUR (Malaysia) - Pelita Jaya Basketball stormed back from 20 down and left NS Matrix a frustrated bunch, 88-82, for a rousing debut in the BCL Asia-East 2025 at the MABA Stadium Thursday night.
Brandon Jawato, KJ McDaniels, and James Dickey delivered the biggest of blows down the stretch,helping the reigning Indonesia Basketball League champions take the lead for good toward indeed a rousing conclusion to Window 1 of the qualifying tournament to the continent's most prestigious club competition.
The crew have now joined Taoyuan Pauian and Bishrelt Metal as the early winners of the tilt as they all beat the Deers, who fell to 0-3 after collapsing against their fellow competitor in the BCL Asia inaugurals.
Next week, the BCL Asia-East will shift to Jakarta for the second window as it would be Pelita Jaya's turn to host their fellow Group A participants - with the hope, of course, to beat them all - at the GMSB Kuningan.
Game heroes: Jawato top-scored in the victory with 28 points on 11-of-16 shooting from the field, including a 4-of-5 clip from three, alongside 8 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals in over 36 minutes of play.
McDaniels, on the other hand, flirted with a triple-double as the former NBA veteran finished with 27 points on 13-of-15 shooting from the foul line, 18 rebounds, and 7 assists with 4 blocks - all in 29 minutes.
Dickey chipped in 10 points and 11 rebounds together with 2 steals and 2 blocks while Chris McCullough and Aldy Izzatur Rachman provided significant contributions in bringing Pelita Jaya back in the game
Turning point: John Murry had already given NS Matrix an 82-79 lead following a perfect trip to the line with 1:58 to go and that appeared to be the break which the home team had been hoping after losing a 50-30 lead.
But the visitors had other things in mind. Jawato, for one, tied things up with a triple, before McDaniels split his freebies to make Heng Yee Tong pay for his foul and give the crew an 85-82 lead with 34.2 seconds left.
A shot by Rachman from point-blank, and then a split by Dickey inside the game's final 17.8 all but secured the result in their favor as Pelita Jaya finished the game with nine straight points to complete the comeback.
Stats don't lie: McDaniels deservingly earned Player of the Game honors as he netted an efficiency of 46 following an all-around outing, setting the highest EFF by any player in Window 1 of the tourney.
They said: "First thing we talked about was we cannot rush. We have to start from defense. We have to be disciplined, be more aggressive, be more physical. And when we get the ball, we have to run. Because if we slow down, a lot of trapping and double-teaming will make us confused. So the only way to attack the situation was to play aggressive defense and when we have the ball, we run." - Johannis Winar, Head Coach, Pelita Jaya Basketball
"I really thought we has this game but unfortunately we just couldn't make the plays down the end to close it out against a very well-coached team. I'm proud of my team because we fought all the way, except that basketball is 40 minutes and we just didn't finish it out in the last three minutes." - Felton Sealey, Head Coach, NS Matrix Deers
FIBA