Meralco tries to make it two in a row in the EASL (East Asian Super League) Season 2 as it plays on the road for the first time when it takes on the debuting Ryukyu Golden Kings on Wednesday in Okinawa, Japan.
The game is set at 8:40 p.m. at the Okinawa Arena, with the Bolts eyeing a second straight win after a 97-85 win over new team Macau Blackbears during the season opener last Oct. 2 at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Chris Newsome led Meralco with 18 points, while imports Allen Durham and David Kennedy adding 17 each.
Durham also had 11 rebounds for a double-double with the Bolts, who arrived in Japan on Monday night.
"It's going to be a tough road ahead, but it's nice to go ahead and match our win total from last year," said Newsome of the Bolts, who finished their first stint in the regional league last year with a 1-5 (win-loss) slate.
The Golden Kings, runner up in last year's Japan B. League, will be making their season debut and are expected to go all out against their PBA counterpart, whose lone victory last season came at the expense of Ryukyu.
The Bolts outlasted the Golden Kings in overtime in Macau, 97-88.
Ryukyu though, won its initial encounter with Meralco, 89-61, when it hosted the team in Okinawa last season.
A fitting sidebar in the match up is the 36-year-old Durham, who was with Ryukyu for the past three seasons and played for the B. League side when it faced the Bolts for two games in Season 1.
The hulking import also won a B. League championship with the Golden Kings in 2023.
A pair of big men in Jack Cooley and former Cleveland Cavalier Alexander Kirk will banner Ryukyu.(RG)
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