Taipei, March 19 (CNA) The Taoyuan Pauian Pilots advanced to the semifinals of the East Asia Super League (EASL) finals on Wednesday with an 89-69 win over the Seoul SK Knights in Macau.
The Pilots never trailed, taking the lead when star forward Lu Chun-hsiang (盧峻翔) hit a three-pointer 13 seconds into the game. Treveon Graham led the Pilots with a game-high 19 points in 26 minutes, as both teams had four players score in double digits.
The Pilots outscored the Knights 40-28 in the paint and 31-21 off the bench, while both teams shot below 25 percent from three-point range.
With Wednesday's victory, the Pilots, defending champions of Taiwan's P.LEAGUE+ (PLG), improved their record against Korean Basketball League (KBL) teams in the EASL to 3-0 and will face top seed Alvark Tokyo at 8 p.m. Friday at Studio City in Macau, seeking a place in the final.
Meanwhile, the other Taiwan team competing in the EASL, the New Taipei Kings of the Taiwan Professional Basketball League (TPBL), were eliminated after an 85-64 loss to Japan's Utsunomiya Brex, the 2024-25 B.LEAGUE champions.
The Brex will face the Ryukyu Golden Kings, another B.LEAGUE team, at 6 p.m. Friday, with the winner advancing to the EASL final on Sunday.
The 2025-26 EASL champions will receive US$1.5 million in prize money, while the runners-up and third-place finishers will take home US$750,000 and US$350,000, respectively.
