McLaughlin delivers monster game in his PBA debut
Chris McLaughlin was impressive in his debut game as the new import of the Hong Kong Eastern in the PBA Season 49 Commissioner's Cup.
McLaughlin posted 32 points, 23 rebounds, and three assists to lead Eastern to a 84-75 victory against the Blackwater Bossing on Tuesday night, at the Filoil EcoOil Centre in San Juan.
The win gave the Hong-Kong based squad their fourth victory in the five games they played in the league.
The 6-foot-10 McLaughlin replaced Cameron Clark who was sidelined by a hip flexor muscle injury.
Clark led Eastern in their three wins of the conference, including the 105-84 drubbed against the Governor's Cup champion, TNT Tropang Giga.
In the first half, HK Eastern looked like it was missing the services of Clark as Blackwater erected a 10-point lead before the break.
But the Hong Kong squad had an impressive 27-9 third quarter surge to grab the lead and maintained it until the final buzzer.
The Canadian reinforcement of Eastern said that he wanted to keep the game simple, pound the paint and play defense.
"Coming to the game, I wanted to keep it simple - take care of the paint, rebound, play defense and the rest of the game will come to me naturally," said McLaughlin.
"I've been here in Manila training with the team every practice and preparing for the moment in case I was called up to play so I stayed ready the whole time," he added.
HK Eastern mainstays Glen Yang and Kobey Lam added 14 and 10, respectively, helping McLaughlin in getting the win.
The victory lifted Eastern to solo third place behind unbeaten NorthPort (4-0) and Meralco (3-0).
On the other hand, Blackwater import George King exploded for 41 points. He scored 31 in the first half but was held to four in the third canto and six in the final period.
Blackwater dropped their third straight game to remain winless in the conference.
The Scores:
EASTERN 84 - McLaughlin 32, Yang 14, Lam 10, Guinchard 8, Xu 7, Cheung 5, Cao 4, Blankley 2, Pok 2, Chan 0, Zhu 0.
BLACKWATER 75 - King 41, Barefield 9, Suerte 9, Chua 4, Kwekuteye 4, David 4, Ilagan 3, Ponferrada 1, Casio 0, Hill 0, Guinto 0, Escoto 0.
Quarter Scores: 23-21, 39-49, 66-58, 84-75.
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