By ADRIAN STEWART CO

Negrense Samjosef Belangel and the Daegu Korea Gas Corporation Pegasus suffered a close 67-64 defeat to the Ulsan Hyundai Mobis Phoebus in the Korean Basketball League (KBL) at the Daegu Gymnasium.

The Negrense guard finished with 12 points, six rebounds and five assists in 31 minutes of action as the Pegasus saw their seven-game winning streak halted to drop to a 7-2 win-loss slate.

Pegasus head coach Kang Hyuk took responsibility for the defeat after they failed to protect their early 19-point lead before faltering in the end via a game-winning triple from Lee Woo-seok.

“The players played hard and well,” Kang said in a post-game interview.

“In the first half, they played well with the promised play on offense and defense. They must have been physically tired, but they showed great energy,” he said.

“I did a bad job of managing the players in the second half. When the opponent adapted to our defense, I should have used different players. Failure to do so is the cause of the loss,” he added.

Gaige Prim top-scored for Mobis Phoebus with 23 points, Sean Long and Lee added 11 and 10 markers, respectively, while Miguel Oczon ended with five points, three steals and two assists.

They improved to a 6-3 record.

Andrew Nicholson finished with 21 points to lead the Pegasus, while other players struggled with their offense./ASC, WDJ