PBA: Chris McLaughlin stars in debut as Eastern fends off Blackwater

A key personnel change paid off for Eastern as Chris McLaughlin made his debut to power the Hong Kong-based team to an 84-75 win over Blackwater in the PBA Season 49 Commissioner's Cup on Tuesday.

Eastern rode McLaughlin's hot hands in the third quarter, outscoring the Bossing, 27 to 9, to pull away even if the latter made a desperate comeback attempt late in the fourth.

The guest team has now won back-to-back games following their loss to Rain or Shine to improve to 4-1 while Blackwater remained winless at 0-3.

McLaughlin posted a monster double-double outing with 32 points and 23 rebounds alongside three assists, one steal, and one block as he replaced Cameron Clark as Eastern's reinforcement.

"Before a game, we talk, we scout for this team. They can move, they can score, and if you don't have the patience and the full energy, as usual you're gonna have a problem," Eastern coach Mensur Bajramovic said.

"In the first half, we didn't do these. We missed a lot of our shots. But in the second half, we fixed it."

Eastern trailed by as much as 10 early on, but when the Hong Kong bets got their groove in the second half, it was done for them as they even secured a 77-63 cushion midway through the payoff period.

Blackwater, though, mounted a fightback behind the efforts of import George King, whose jumper and a massive four-point shot cut the deficit to just 10 with 3:02 to go, 80-70.

A pair of free throws from Rey Suerte would then slice it to a single digit disadvantage, 80-72, before RK Ilagan buried a triple for an 83-75 affair. But Eastern just refused to slow down and found the finishing kick to close it out.

Glen Yang, whose split charities sealed the victory, chipped in 14 points, seven rebounds, two assists, and two steals while Kobey Lam posted 10 markers, 11 boards, and four dimes.

King paced Blackwater with a massive double-double showing of 41 points and 12 rebounds alongside one assist while Sedrick Barefield and Suerte each tallied nine markers.

—JMB, GMA Integrated News