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SERVICES
THE INQUIRER COMPANY
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04
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20
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2024
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SERVICES
THE INQUIRER COMPANY
04
20
2024
Lady luck has not smiled on GlobalPort of late.
The Batang Pier hope things would be a lot different this time around when they battle surprising Mahindra Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Enforcers are aiming for a second straight win that would tie them alongside idle Meralco for the early lead in the season-ending tourney and showed they have what it takes by stunning heavily-favored Star 100-92 in overtime last Friday.
James White scored 18 of his 22 points in the second half and extension, fellow import Iman Mashaddy went a perfect 5-for-5 from beyond the arc while veteran Nino Canaleta and new acquisition Paolo Taha also played key roles for Mahindra’s rousing opener.
For its part, GlobalPort could not take advantage of Barangay Ginebra going import-less in the last 13:03 of the game and lost 81-93 last Saturday.
Stanley Pringle scored a gamehigh 26 points, Dominique Sutton added 18 on top of 15 rebounds and Terrence Romeo came off the bench for 15 points on 17 shots.
But the head coaching debut of Johnedel Cardel and consultant Franz Pumaren helping draw up some plays, plus Kings import Paul Harris leaving after fracturing his right thumb late in the third quarter, could not boost the Batang Pier any.
According to GlobalPort governor Eric Arejola, a lot of things are riding on Wednesday’s game, foremost of which is the continued stay of Sutton, who went 4-of-9 from the stripe and just 7-of-23 from the field, including 0-for-5 from the three-point area, in his first game back after reinforcing Air21 in the 2014 edition of the same tourney.
“From what Dominique showed in our first game, he has to deliver more,” said Arejola in a talk to some sportswriters after the Ginebra game. “We’ll evaluate his performance against Mahindra then decide if we’ll make a change.”
Another matter that needs to be decided is whether Palestinian Omar Krayem would be brought back.
Talks with Krayem, who averaged 13.2 points in 13 games in the same tourney last season, were put on hold after he suffered a knee injury two months ago.
Some local GlobalPort players are also nursing injuries. Rico Maierhofer needs two more months to recover from an ACL tear on his right knee, Billy Mamaril’s calf muscle caused him to be listed as day-to-day and Jay Washington also has some calf issues.
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