Brownlee-less Pelita nips HK Eastern

Justin Brownlee (right) Photo from Pelita Jaya basketball Instagram

JUSTIN Brownlee sat out Pelita Jaya’s final game of round 2 of the Basketball Champions League Asia Qualifiers, but the rest of the Indonesia club went on to gut out a 76-71 triumph over a fighting Hong Kong Eastern at the final day of the tournament on Friday night at the BritAma Arena in Jakarta.

Brownlee watched from the sidelines as his Indonesian teammates led by their two American reinforcements KJ McDaniels and JaQuori McLaughlin came through with big efforts once more to stymie the Hong Kong club team.

The 6-foot-4 Brownlee, who turned 36 last Tuesday, rested in the team’s final game.

Pelita Jaya went on to finish the first two rounds of the qualifiers unscathed, winning all six of its games, with Brownlee making an impact after averaging 15.2 points, 8.2 rebounds and 4.0 assists in five games.

More importantly, Pelita Jaya punched in a ticket to the BCL Asia tournament proper, along with Malaysian quintet NS Matrix and joining champion squads from the Chinese Basketball Association, Japan B.League, the Korean Basketball League, two teams from the FIBA West Asia Super League and the PBA.

McDaniels went on to finish with an overpowering effort of 31 points and 13 rebounds, while McLaughlin came through with 18, six boards and five assists as the two Americans more than made up for the absence of Brownlee, the Gilas naturalized player.

Brandon Jawato added 10 points and six rebounds for Pelita Jaya.