NEW TAIPEI CITY (Chinese Taipei) - Taoyuan Pauian averted disaster and survived Pelita Jaya Basketball, 66-63, to keep its record intact in the BCL Asia-East 2025 at the Xinzhuang Gymnasium, Saturday night.
The Pilots were lucky enough to escape a late-game hijack attempt by the visitors, with Agassi Goantara missing the potential game-tying three-pointer as time expired that could've changed the game's complexion.
PJB came back from down 64-56 with three minutes remaining behind JaQuori McLaughlin and it did not help the home team that they missed crucial shots from the foul line and committed turnovers as well.
Fortunately for Taoyuan, though, their Indonesian foes couldn't land the big blows either, ultimately enabling the squad to maintain their lead of Group A after racking up their third win in as many outings.
"It was important to win against Pelita Jaya. We put them to two losses," said head coach Iurgi Caminos as they were also responsible in dealing the IBL outfit their first loss - an 88-64 rout in Jakarta last window.
"And like I told my players, half of the trip to the Final Four was today," added the Spanish bench tactician as they aim for the Semi-Finals. "Now, we have another two games to really close in on the Final Four."
Jarrod Jones led the Pilots with 16 points and 7 rebounds. Alec Brown notched a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds as the two triggered what should've been the strong closeout before the opposition's rally.
Treveon Graham supplied 13 points and 6 rebounds while Lu Chun-Hsiang added 11 points for the P.League + side, who actually jumped to a 17-6 lead to start the game before the opposition roared back.
"It was a battle," said Brown. "It wasn't as easy as last game, we weren't making many shot buts defensively a lot of deflections, helping each other. Big win for us. We matched their intensity and pulled it off."
Taoyuan will have a quick turnaround as they will face Bishrelt Metal of Mongolia (1-1) in less than 24 hours in the second of a three-game home stand, looking of course to extend their unbeaten streak to four.
McLaughlin led Pelita Jaya with 24 points and 7 rebounds in the loss, which dropped their card to 3-2 in the group. Chris McCullough backed him up with 13 & 10 while Goantara chipped in 11 points and 8 boards.
McCullough and Goantara, along with James Dickey, were responsible in that big second-quarter assault, where they wiped out a 19-10 deficit and even took the lead, 22-20, thus setting up the tight affair.
McLaughlin then tried to strap the team on his back down the stretch when he scored seven straight to cut the aforementioned eight-point deficit, but couldn't sustain as much in the dying seconds.
His attempt from deep with the hope to tie things up at 66-all failed to meet the target, then came Goantara's miss from the corner. Graham was there to haul down the rebound and that sealed the W for Taoyuan.
"I think my team performed well," said PJB head coach Johannis Winar. "We just didn't have the opportunity to give ourselves time to to win the game. But it is what it is. The game just slipped a little bit out of our hands."
Pelita Jaya will head back home soon and get some more prep time before facing Bishrelt Metal as well in the Group Phase's final leg on May 14 at the UG Arena in Ulaanbaatar.
FIBA