Eastern shrugs off fatigue in repeat victory over San Miguel

In a grueling four-game stretch, guest team Eastern managed to pull off twin victories against no less than powerhouse and defending champion San Miguel.

While the Hong Kong-based team admitted to feeling the exhaustion as they had to juggle playing multiple games in two leagues with the PBA and the East Asia Super League (EASL), they made sure they wouldn't sleep on defense and give the Beermen another run for their money. 

This after Eastern outlasted San Miguel in overtime, 99-91, during their encounter on Sunday in the PBA Season 49 Commissioner's Cup, repeating the victory just days after they pulled off a 71-62 triumph in their EASL clash. 

Head coach Mensur Bajramovic, though, shared it wasn't an easy feat defeating San Miguel in two consecutive games.

"We had like four games in this week, including two games with San Miguel. It’s not easy to beat any team twice in a row, especially San Miguel, which is a very good team," Bajramovic said.

"My players are tired for sure, it was obvious in our last game where ew lost, but we have analyzed this game and they showed good reaction today. We played pretty well defensively all game, it was our target tonight to play our defense."

Banking on their defensive scheme, Eastern held San Miguel to its lowest scoring output in the tournament, allowing the reigning champions to a dismal 41.8 percent shooting from the field. 

Eastern also forced San Miguel to 22 turnovers, which they converted into 25 points, while also grabbing 15 steals to deny the Beermen a third straight victory following back-to-back wins against Terrafirma and Blackwater.

Glen Yang led the charge for Eastern with 26 points to go with four rebounds, four assists, and two steals while Chris McLaughlin and Hayden Blankley chipped in 18 and 15 markers apiece. 

With their defense and on-point offense in the extra period, Eastern was able to bounce back from a 120-113 loss to NorthPort last Friday. Before that loss, Eastern also had to face Barangay Ginebra last Sunday, coming up with a 93-90 win.  

"Coach always preaches that we practice harder than everybody and it’s true to be honest. The travel schedule got to us last game, it’s no excuse, but we definitely felt it and I think you can see that on the defensive end," Yang said. 

"But our coaches put the game we played against San Miguel the last time and he showed our defense. So we knew we were gonna bring that tonight. I think we really showed who we really are tonight."

—JKC, GMA Integrated News