MACAO - Its depleted roster further took toll on Blackwater as the Elite suffered a 109-69 blowout against Chiba Jets on Wednesday to bow out of contention in the East Asia League Terrific 12.
The Elite were again five players led star rookie Bobby Ray Parks and dearly paid the price against the Jets, who exploded right away from the get go.
After scoring the first six points of the game, the Japanese team stretched the lead to an 11-point edge, before ending the first quarter still on top, 33-19.
It didn't get any better from there for Blackwater as the lead eventually ballooned to 64-25 at the break.
The loss was the second in two days for the Elite in Group A and became the first of the three PBA teams to be eliminated in the race for a semifinals berth.
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Idles San Miguel and TnT Katropa remain in contention of advancing to the Final Four.
Coach Aris Dimaunahan said there's something the Elite should learn from the winless stint, an experience he hopes the team would be able to apply in the season-ending Governors Cup that kicks off on Friday.
"We'll learn from all our mistakes and we'll do better," he said.
Aside from Parks, also injured for Blackwater were Mike Digregorio, Rabeh Al-Hussaini, Mike Cortez, and Matt Salem.
Imports Marqus Blakely and Alex Stepheson tried to carry the fight, but to no avail for the Elite, who trailed biggest at 109-67.
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Blakely finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds, Stepheson 12 (11 rebounds), and Diego Dario with 10.
American-Japanese Michael Parker showed the way for the Jets with 22 points and 13 rebounds, import Josh Duncan had 20, while Yuki Togashi, a teammate of Parks with the Texas Legends in the NBA J League, contributed 13 points and seven assists.
The Jets will dispute the top spot and the semifinals berth at stake in Group A with idle Seoul SK Knights on Thursday.
The scores
Chiba Jets (109) - Parker 22, Duncan 20, Togashi 13, Taguchi 11, Hareyama 11, Edwards 11, Fujinaga 7, Flippin 6, Omiya 4, Ono 3, Hara 1.
Blackwater (69) - Blakely 16, Stepheson 12, Dario 10, Alolino 8, Belo 8, Maliksi 7, Jose 4, Desiderio 2, Banal 0, Cruz 0, Javier 0.
Quarterscores: 33-19; 64-25; 82-51; 109-69.
