Abarrientos sizzling hot vs Seoul, leads Ulsan to another win

RJ Abarrientos went berserk against Seoul SK Knights. (Ulsan photo)

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

Young Filipino superstar guard RJ Abarrientos quickly became one of the biggest stars in the Korean Basketball League (KBL) after another majestic performance that led the Ulsan Hyundai Mobis Phoebus to another win on Tuesday, Oct 25, 2022.

Already gaining recognition as one of the most exciting Asian imports in the KBL, Abarrientos spearheaded Ulsan against the Seoul SK Knights, 97-84, to improve to 3-1 in the official team standings.

The Gilas Pilipinas young cadet finished the game with 23 big points, six rebounds, four assists, and three steals in 29 minutes of action for the Mobis Phoebus squad.

Abarrientos immediately buckled to work from the get-go and torched the SK Knights’ perimeter defense after putting on a show at the three-point line.

The crafty scoring guard only missed a shot in the whole first half out of five attempts and scored 12 points to help Ulsan balloon its lead to 54-41 heading into the next two quarters.

Just when Ulsan thought they could bag the win early when the third quarter was about to end, the SK Knights showed heart and inched closer after trimming the lead to just a single digit.

Abarrientos then answered the call for the Mobis Phoebus during the most crucial stretch of the game. With Seoul coming back in the last two minutes, 89-82, the young guard buried two cold-blooded three-pointers that proved to be the exclamation point in the duel with a minute left.

In total, Abarrientos nailed six of his seven total three-pointer attempts and became the Mobis Phoebus’ closer for the second-straight game.

Backstopping Abarrientos is Gaige Prim who top-scored Ulsan with 26 big points to go along with seven rebounds.

Meanwhile, Jameel Warney carried the struggling SK Knights with 29 points and seven rebounds but wasn’t enough to lift them out of their losing slump.