ANGE KOUAME ON STANDBY AS MERALCO PATIENCE WEARS THIN ON BROWNLEE

TIME is obviously ticking away for the Meralco Bolts in their East Asia Super League campaign after losing for the second straight time on Sunday against host Taoyuan Pauian Pilots.

With Justin Brownlee again a no-show for the team, coach Luigi Trillo hinted about bringing in another naturalized player especially with four games left for Meralco to play and try to qualify for the playoffs of Season 3 Home And Away.

"We’re waiting for Justin. He is our naturalized and he’s an option to play. But we have an option between him and another player who might come in, so we’re still not sure," said Trillo during the presser following Meralco’s 82-72 loss to the Pilots at the Taoyuan Arena in Taipei.

COLUMN: So where is Justin Brownlee?

"But he (Brownlee) would be a big help if he was here."

Mystery still hounds the continued non-appearance of the 36-year-old Brownlee, who was committed by his mother ballclub Barangay Ginebra to play for the Bolts to bolster the campaign of the lone PBA team representative in the regional tournament.

Brownlee was supposed to team up with Rondae Hollis-Jefferson for Meralco in an explosive partnership featuring two of the most dominant imports lately in Asia’s pioneering pro league.

But not even the shadow of the three-time Best Import had shown up for the Bolts in practice all the way to end of their lost game against the Pilots.

Trillo mentioned about another naturalized player who might come in, and obviously the person is Ange Kouame, who was part of Meralco’s roster during Season 2 of the EASL last year.

The Bolts will be playing at home on Saturday in Ilagan, Isabela opposite the Pilots and Trillo mentioned about several players coming in for the team.

"Right now we have a couple of guys who are coming in. We have a player from Iran, (Sina) Bahedi, he’ll be playing, but we still have to decide on it."

But obviously, the Bolts can’t afford to lose the game against the Pilots as it meant further going down the standings where they currently hold a 0-2 record in Group B.

After Taoyuan, Meralco will be playing at home its next four games against the debuting Macao Black Bears on Nov. 15 and then a rematch with the Black Bears on Dec. 6.

The Bolts play their final game on Feb. 11 against the Ryukyu Golden Kings.

Under the new format, only the top two teams out of the three groups will advance to the playoffs. 

2025-11-02T16:15:03Z