Hong Kong Eastern’s Cameron Clark against Converge FiberXers’ Cheick Diallo in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup. –PBA IMAGES
Cameron Clark dropped 39 points and guest team Hong Kong Eastern moved to 2-0 for the early lead in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup with a 117-106 victory over Converge Friday at Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
The former NLEX and San Miguel Beer import also got help from Hayden Blankley, Glen Yang, Steven Guinchard and Kobey Lam as Eastern overcame the FiberXers side that tried to make things interesting in the fourth.
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Eastern swept the first week of its participation in the midseason tournament and is set to fly back to Hong Kong to play a crucial A1 Championship match against Tycoon, the team it played in last season’s finals.
Then there will be two tough games ahead for Eastern in the PBA with Rain or Shine next on Wednesday followed by Governors’ Cup champion TNT, which will start its Commissioner’s Cup campaign Friday.
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Blankley had 21 points and 10 rebounds, Yang posted 19 points and four assists while Lam added 11 as the trio which played for the Bay Area Dragons, who reached the Finals of the 2022 Commissioner’s Cup, came through for Eastern.
READ: PBA: Guest team Hong Kong Eastern off to winning start
Guinchard, meanwhile, came off the bench to score 14 points.
Import Cheick Diallo finished with 43 points and nine rebounds but the FiberXers were denied a rare 2-0 start. Alec Stockton added 18 points, six rebounds and eight assists.
Converge’s closest chance at drawing even with Eastern was when it narrowed the gap to 101-98 on Diallo’s basket, time down to 4:31.
But Clark scored seven of the next nine points as Eastern pulled away to lead, 111-102, near the final two minutes.
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