Black Bears suffer fourth straight defeat, exit contention

The Macau Black Bears have suffered their fourth consecutive defeat in the 2025-26 season of the East Asia Super League (EASL).

Facing the Ryukyu Golden Kings in Okinawa, the Macau side started the game strongly, closing the first period with a three-point advantage (21-24).

In a game that was always very balanced, with marginal point differences, the Golden Kings narrowed the gap slightly in the second period (20-19), bringing the game to just a two-point difference at half-time (41-43), with the Black Bears still leading.

Fighting to save their season and avenge their overtime loss to the Golden Kings from last season, the Black Bears began losing steam in the later stages of the game, with the Golden Kings taking the lead on the scoreboard in the third period thanks to a 22-16 partial score that put the Golden Kings ahead by four points (63-59).

Despite the lead change, the balance continued until the end, with the Golden Kings expanding their advantage slightly in the final period (24-22) to a final score of 87-81.

With this result, the Macau Black Bears are among the first teams eliminated this season, with no mathematical chance of advancing to the next stage.

For the Macau side, captain Damian Chong Qui continued to be the standout, contributing seven assists and 27 points, followed by Omari Peek-Green with 21 points.

The best performers for the Golden Kings were Ryo Sadohara and Ryuichi Kishimoto, scoring 19 and 18 points respectively. Notably, Golden Kings top scorer Sadohara played only 21 minutes and 14 seconds but delivered an impressive 83.33% from 2-point range.