The East Asia Super League (EASL)’s semi-finals and championship game will be held at the Studio City Event Centre in March, and two Japanese B. League teams have already secured their spots in the final four, according to an announcement on the basketball league’s website.
The Ryukyu Golden Kings will be there, having defeated Taiwan’s New Taipei Kings 82-74 on 25 December. They’ll be joined by the Hiroshima Dragonflies, which beat the Philippines’ San Miguel Beermen 94-63 on 8 January. Both Japanese teams have won four out of their five games to date.
The Macao Black Bears are still in with a chance, having won three out of their six games. The team, currently ranked second in the league’s Group B, await the results of upcoming matches between other teams to find out whether they’ll compete on their home turf in March.
[See more: Who are the Macau Black Bears? What to know about the city’s star team]
The semi-finals have been scheduled for 7 March, with the winners advancing to the championship game on 9 March. The two losing semi-finalists will compete that same day for third place. Tickets go on sale on 7 February via Studio City’s website.
This season’s EASL winners will take home a grand prize of US$1 million. The runner-up team is set to pocket US$500,000, while the third-place getter will earn US$250,000.
EASL CEO Henry Kerins has described the league as brimming with “outstanding talent, prime-time action and unmatched energy.”
