After losing two games on the road, playing in their home-court finally saw the CLS Knights Indonesia flash their fiery form. However, even this would not be enough to snap their losing slide as they ran out of steam in the overtime period falling 87-78 against the Hong Kong Eastern Basketball Team, Sunday night at GOR CLS Kertajaya.
With the defending champions down by four points late in the fourth quarter, Christian Standhardinger took matters into his own hands once again, like what he did in their debut win against the Tanduay Alab Pilipinas.
The Filipino-German tied the game at 68-all after back to back baskets. CLS banked on Evan Brock to provide easy buckets for them down low but Standhardinger answered with a couple of mid-range jumpers to keep the score knotted at 72-all.
Freddie Goldstein seemed like he hit the knockout blow for the Knights as he connected a triple with only 21 seconds left for a 75-72 edge but Brock fouled Standhardinger while taking a three-point shot with only five seconds remaining in the game.
Not known as a very good free throw shooter, Hong Kong Eastern’s Heritage import calmly sank all three. Goldstein had a decent attempt to win the game in regulation for CLS but his halfcourt heave barely rimmed out at the buzzer.
In the overtime period, the home team simply had no more gas left in the tank. They burned their reserves late in the fourth quarter as they tried to deal the defending champions their first loss of the season.
Aided by Ryan Moss, Marcus Elliot, Li Kee, and Tyler Lamb, Standhardinger capped a 12-0 blast for Hong Kong in overtime. The only basket from CLS came from Goldstein as he nailed a three with only 31 seconds left.
For the second straight game, Hong Kong Eastern was tested in the clutch and they passed once again with flying colors to remain undefeated to stay just behind Chong Son Kung Fu in the standings.
Lamb led the defending champions with 25 points, and 12 rebounds while Standhardinger finished with 19 points, most of which were scored late in the fourth and in the overtime period.
Li also played well for the winner as he scattered 17 points while reigning ABL World Import MVP Elliot did not shoot well from the field at 6 of 20 but still came up with 15 points, alongside 11 rebounds and 6 assists.
The loss put to waste a monster rebounding performance from Brian Williams who set a new ABL record by grabbing 32 caroms while adding 14 points, 6 assists, 6 blocks, and 2 steals. The hulking World import played all 45 minutes of the game which may have led to the their poor finish.
Goldstein led the Knights in scoring with 22 points while Brock had 16 points.
