Abarrientos, Ulsan survive Goyang to keep outright semis bid alive

MANILA, Philippines – RJ Abarrientos and the Ulsan Hyundai Mobis Phoebus kept their bid for an outright semifinals berth alive with an all-important 88-83 win over the Goyang Carrot Jumpers in the Korean Basketball League (KBL) on Monday, March 27. 

Abarrientos came up with a decent showing of 14 points on 4-of-10 shooting, 1 rebound, 6 assists, and 2 steals to help Ulsan push its red-hot winning streak to seven games and improve its record to 34-19.

With only one playing date left in the regular season, Ulsan needs to win its final game against Justin Gutang’s Changwon LG Sakers (35-18) on Wednesday, March 29, and will also need the Seoul SK Knights (35-18) to drop their final assignment against Ethan Alvano’s Wonju DB Promy to create a three-way tie for the No. 2 spot.

Along with Rhenz Abando’s league-leading Anyang KGC, the second seed will advance automatically to the semifinals, while the teams ranked third, fourth, fifth, and sixth will duke it out in a best-of-three quarterfinals.  

Seo Myeong-jin scored a team-best 21 points, while American import Gaige Prim collected a double-double of 18 points and 12 rebounds for Ulsan.

On the other side, Lee Jung-hyun paced Goyang with a game-high 24 markers.

In a battle of two squads which are already out of playoff contention, the cellar-dwelling Seoul Samsung Thunders dominated SJ Belangel and the Daegu KOGAS Pegasus, 78-57. 

Belangel connected on only three of his 11 attempts from the field to wind up with 8 points to go with 2 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block. 

Daegu – which fell to 17-36 – will look to end its KBL campaign on a winning note against the Jeonju KCC Egis on Wednesday. – Rappler.com