JAKARTA (Indonesia) - Pelita Jaya Basketball used a big second half to beat Bishrelt Metal, 90-68, to open Window 2 of the Basketball Champions League Asia-East 2025 at the GMSB Kuningan, Saturday night.
The reigning Indonesia Basketball League titlists took control early before pulling away for good in the third quarter, eventually netting their second win in as many games to take the early lead in Group A.
Coach Johannis Winar and his charges will look to make it three in a row when they take on Chinese Taipei side Taoyuan Pauian (1-0) tomorrow, Sunday, April 6, still at 20:00 local time and in the same venue.
Bishrelt Metal, on the other hand, fell to 1-1 as they badly missed the presence of Byron Wesley, who starred in their 98-86 victory over the NS Matrix Deers back in the opening window in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Game heroes: James Dickey sizzled in the triumph with 25 points and 14 rebounds, netting an efficiency of 39 as he bannered the home team's balanced attack that saw four players finish in double figures.
Brandon Jawato supplied 19 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals. Chris McCullough made 17 points and 7 rebounds, while KJ McDaniels delivered a full line of 15 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals, and a block.
Turning point: McDaniels and McCullough were responsible in giving Pelita Jaya the lead for good, conniving for five straight points to end the second quarter and erect a 45-40 lead entering the halftime break.
Then came the breakaway come the next frame, with Dickey and McCullough perfecting their respective trips to the free throw line to make it a 67-54 advantage entering the game's final 10 minutes.
The crew then put on a strong finish, with Jawato himself nailing four of his five three-pointers in the fourth quarter alone that left their counterparts from Mongolia searching for answers that never came.
Stats don't lie: Pelita Jaya also began last year's BCL Asia Qualifiers with two wins in a row, eventually sweeping their way (6-0) to the tournament proper - something they'd surely want to emulate this season.
They said: "Maybe because it's my first year here in Asia, and I don’t have a big picture for all of the teams but I want to be honest: I think the Mongolian players are one step better than the previous year, I think they're near to compete with the other countries. For sure, very good effort to make good job, but I think now we’re near." - Evangelos Tsepelis, Head coach, Bishrelt Metal
"I’m proud of my guys, we’re in a situation where we didn’t have our full team but we competed, there’s no excuses. Anytime you show up for a game, you gotta be ready to go whether you have one person or a full team. I’m just proud we showed up and played Metal basketball. We fell a little short but congrats to [Pelita Jaya], they played great basketball out there." - Devon Scott, Bishrelt Metal
"I think we were two teams tonight. First half team, I dunno who we were. we all didn’t know who we were first half. That just wasn’t us and we had a conversation at halftime and decided to play Pelita Jaya basketball and that starts on the defensive end. We picked up the defense, played intense and we had a lot more fun playing basketball and we were able to push that lead out second half. I'm proud of that second half team and hopefully we can take that momentum - not hopefully, we will take that momentum into this next game." - James Dickey, Pelita Jaya Basketball
FIBA