MERALCO faltered in the second half against home team Shabab Al Ahli and lost its debut game in the Basketball Champions League Asia, 101-87, Saturday night in Dubai.
The Bolts couldn't sustain an 11-point second quarter lead and was outscored, 51-31, in the entire second half by The Red Knights to go down with the 14-point loss.
Deshawndre Washington exploded for 40 points including 23 in the opening half when he carried the fight for Shabab Al Ahli, which stared at a 54-43 deficit four minutes left in the second period.
But a 10-2 run to close the quarter allowed the home team to pull within 56-53 at the halftime break.
The Red Knights shot well from deep by converting 56 percent of their shots (10-of-18), then outscored the Bolts in fastbreak points, 24-14, and dominated inside the paint, 50-38.
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"They really played well offensively. They gave us a lot of problems, shot the ball extremely well from the three-point line, and did well in transition as well," noted Meralco active consultant Nenad Vucinic, while adding the Bolts' defense was also partially at fault.
Imports Glynn Watson and Jordon Varnado each had 19 points to pace Meralco, which only trailed, 73-72, late in the third before Shabab stepped on the pedal gas and made a run bridging the third and final quarters to pull off the win in Group B.
Chris Newsome had 14 points in the first half, but was held to just a single point the rest of the way to finish with 15. He fouled out with three minutes to go in the game.
The loss put Meralco, reigning PBA Philippine Cup champion, in a must-win situation against reigning B. League champion Utsunomiya Brex on Sunday also at the Sheikh Saeed Bin Maktoum Sports Hall.
Utsunomiya took a bye on opening night.
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"It's going to be a tough task, but we're confident we can play much better than we did today, and hopefully have a chance to win," said Nenad, who said the Bolts also had to make do playing with three imports who just joined the team a few days ago.
The top eight overall teams out of the nine-team cast by the end of the group phase will advance to the quarterfinals.
The scores
Shabab Al Ahli (101) -- Washington 40, Love 22, Alshabebi 15, H. Albreiki 13, Hawley 8, Alameri 3, A. Albreiki 0, S. Alajmani 0, M. Alajmani 0, Alnuaimi 0.
Meralco (87) -- Varnado 19, Watson 19, Newsome 15, Egbunu 12, Banchero 11, Almazan 5, Hodge 4, Quinto 2, Cansino 0, Black 0.
Quarterscores: 35-27; 53-56; 79-74; 101-87.
