GASCO, which had the height advantage based on the number of foreign players, failed in its victory hunt.
After a nearly one-week break, Daegu Korea Gas Corp. couldn’t keep the momentum going in their quest to escape a losing streak and fell to Suwon KT at home.
In what was the Gasworks’ first game of December, the team faced off against 텍사스홀덤 KT at Daegu Gymnasium on Sunday afternoon, and despite a strong performance from newcomer Duvan Maxwell with 12 points and six rebounds, the Gasworks lost 81-99 to KT’s one-man army of Andrew Nicholson and KT’s Paris Bass.
With opposing KT without Eric, who suffered an ankle injury, and Nicholson’s counterpart, Lee Doo-won, who handles height, somewhat sidelined with a mid-game injury, Bass stepped up with a game-high 31 points to lead his team to victory.
With Maxwell playing over 18 minutes, GASCO, which was ahead in the number of foreign players, used its height advantage to make a mid-third quarter comeback, but Nicholson, who was supposed to be the centerpiece of the team’s offense, missed five 3-pointers and scored only nine points, leading to the team’s defeat.
With new foreign player Maxwell looking like the player they expected him to be, and Ahn Se-young scoring a team-high 16 points on 100% shooting from three-point range, Gasworks can take solace in the fact that centerpiece Lee Dae-heon played the longest 29 minutes of the game, scoring 12 points, grabbing three rebounds, and, most notably, converting his free throws flawlessly.
Having narrowly missed out on escaping the bottom of the standings, but with a lot of promise, GAS Gongsa will continue their road trip on Monday, April 4 in Wonju against Wonju DB, who have been in the best shape of their lives this season.