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STRONG START ANEW FOR BARAKO BULL
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SEVERELY threatened and looking for something to tide his team over, Barako Bull received more than a couple of breaks in its game against Wednesday.
The result was a 101-96 victory by the Energy that set off their PBA Governors Cup campaign on a bright note at the Mall of Asia Arena.
It was the ninth time in the last 12 conferences Barako Bull won its conference debut and third time in the last four Governor Cups.
Liam McMorrow turned out to be a gem of a find with 33 points and 22 rebounds while JC Intal heated up at the most opportune of times with 14 of his 24 points in the fourth period, enabling Barako to hold on after blowing what was once a 22-point lead.
“JC will always give you his 100% and I am not asking for more,” said Barako coach Coy Banal of Intal, who also grabbed 11 rebounds.
It was Intal’s first double-double performance this season while scoring his second highest output in a game this season, next only to a 25 he scored against San Miguel Beer last March 3 in a 102-91 loss.
Aside from McMorrow and Intal, new acquisition Dylan Ababou, acquired in a pre-conference trade with Barangay Ginebra, also proved to be a key factor in the victory by coming off the bench and notching 16 points which he capped with a big triple to go with a crucial–although inadvertent–hit on NLEX import Michael Madanly earlier.
Madanly, who finished with a team-high 26 points despite playing just the first 35 or so minutes of the contest, suffered what seemed to be a whiplash-like injury after colliding with Ababou during a looseball scramble, still 1:13 to go in the third period. He had to be taken out and spent the rest of his game on the bench with his neck resting on towels before being rushed to a hospital for tests right after the game.
Prior to the injury the Syrian hotshot single-handedly outscored the entire Barako squad 12-10 and his assist to Aldrech Ramos resulted in a three-point play that gave the Road Warriors a 68-66 edge, their first taste of the lead since opening the game 7-2.
“It was good for us that Madanly came out,” said Banal. “It was definitely a plus for us.”
Kwame Alexander, who came in as a last-minute replacement for Rob Jones, had a decent debut with 16 points and 10 rebounds, and he tried to pick up the slack with seven of his points also coming in the decisive period.
The muscular southpaw’s banked-in triple even brought NLEX tantalizingly within 92-93, but the Road Warriors would muff their next three offensive thrusts while McMorrow canned two charities, Intal a floater and KG Canaleta accidentally tipped in on the Barako basket that was credited to the 7-2 Canadian to make it a seven-point game.
Macmac Cardona and Jonas Villanueva put NLEX within 96-99 and it had the chance to tie when Intal missed a jumper. But Asi Taulava committed a passing error and McMorrow plucked a Chico Lanete airball and converted it into a twisting undergoal stab to put the game away.
Despite the near-meltdown Banal preferred looking at the silver lining in the win, which stretched his team’s dominance this season over NLEX to three games and set it off on course to at least improve on its seventh place finish in the Commissioner’s Cup.
“Everybody stayed in the game, everybody stayed positive and we were able to turn around the game in the fourth (quarter),” said Banal.
For its part, it was a sorry meltdown for NLEX, which refused to buckle under despite trailing 25-47 in the second period and, thanks mainly to Madanly and support mainly coming from Cardona and Taulava, engaged Barako through six deadlocks in the second half.
The Road Warriors actually took an 82-78 lead, following an Alexander short stab, but that was when Intal started putting the icing on his fiery performance.
Back-to-back triples by Intal not only gave the Energy back the lead but also put them up 90-87, before Ababou’s own trey made it 93-89, 3:50 remaining in the game. (NC)
The scores:
BARAKO BULL 101 – McMorrow 33, Intal 24, Ababou 16, Lastimosa 6, Garcia 5, Lanete 5, Maierhofer 5, Yeo 3, Hubalde 3, Wilson 1, Pascual 0, Chua 0.
NLEX 96 – Madanly 26, Alexander 16, Cardona 11, Villanueva J. 10, Canaleta 9, Villanueva E. 6, Lingganay 5, Taulava 5, Borboran 3, Ramos 3, Raymundo 2, Arboleda H. 0.
Quarterscores: 29-19, 56-42, 70-70, 101-96
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EDITORS' PICK
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