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Changwon LG Sakers near KBL Championship despite record-low points in 4th game

Published: 12 May. 2025, 14:01

PAIK JI-HWAN
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Changwon LG Sakers center Assem Marei, second from left, in action during a KBL Championship game against the Seoul SK Knights at Changwon Gymnasium in Changwon, South Gyeongsang, on May 11. [NEWS1]

The Changwon LG Sakers are close to lifting their first KBL Championship trophy with only one win standing between the club and the coveted title, but will walk away with the embarrassing feat of racking up the fewest points in a championship game at 48.

The Sakers, who won the past three championship games in a row against regular season champions Seoul SK Knights, slipped in the fourth game at Changwon Gymnasium in Changwon, South Gyeongsang on Sunday, losing 73-48.

The Changwon club’s 48 points broke the previous low-score record in championship history at 54 points by Wonju Dongbu Promy, now called Wonju DB Promy, in 2015, and Jeonju KCC Egis, now called Busan KCC Egis, in 2011.

The Sakers struggled on offense overall in Sunday’s game, with only center Assem Marei scoring double-digit points at 10.

Sunday’s record not only marks the Sakers’ lowest scoring game across all games in the 2024-25 season, but also contrasts with their performances in the past three championship games, where they have racked up over 70 points in each contest — 75 in the first game, 76 in the second and 80 in the third.

The Sakers will head to the fifth game of the series in southern Seoul at 7 p.m. on Tuesday for what could be their final game of the campaign.

The Changwon club will make their East Asia Super League (EASL) — an international league in which multiple teams from across Asia compete annually — next season as one of the two championship finalists.

Only KBL Championship winners and runners-up qualify for the EASL, while regular season winners cannot.

The Knights also return to the EASL, where they finished as runners-up in the league’s first two editions before missing last season.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [[email protected]]