STILL TOP GUN
MARK Caguioa is not one to just let a young turk upstage him, especially when his team’s immediate goal is on the line.
The former MVP proved that just last Thursday, when he emphatically led Barangay Ginebra San Miguel over Terrence Romeo and the rest of GlobalPort and in the process earned for himself the Accel-PBA Press Corps Player of the Week honors for the period Nov. 25 to Dec. 1.
In that game, Caguioa exploded for a personal conference-best 29 points – two more than the red-hot rookie – in spearheading the Kings’ drive to a third win in as many outings and a share of the PLDT myDSL Philippine Cup lead with idle Petron Blaze.
June Mar Fajardo came up with a monster game of 21 points and 25 rebounds in the Boosters’ 91-78 win over San Mig Coffee while John Wilson and Jayson Castro came up with career games for Meralco and Talk N Text, respectively, in the week that was.
It is Caguioa who earned the scribes’ nod, however, following the electrifying performance that came during winning time.
“I knew I had to do something and I’m glad I made those shots,” said Caguioa after he scored 14 of his points, on 4-of-4 shooting from the field and 4-of-5 from the stripe, and took over the game against the Batang Pier in the last three minutes.
“Mark is one guy na iyung pagka-competitive palaging nandoon,” said Ginebra coach Ato Agustin.
“Challenged by another player, and a rookie at that, ipinakita lang ni Mark na nandoon pa rin iyung ‘The Spark’ and in the process idinisplay niya iyung never-say-die spirit ng team. He really took over the offense for us,” added the tactician.
The 2012 MVP said he could do nothing less when Romeo threw down the gauntlet with a basket over him that capped GlobalPort’s fightback from 19 points down and installed it on top, 93-91.
That only served to stir Caguioa into full action.
The Kings’ main man scored five straight points, issued an assist and then strung up five more points to fully give control back to Ginebra, 103-95.
When the Batang Pier threatened once more following Romeo ‘s three-point play, capping his followup to a 34-point game against Air21 just five days before, Caguioa dealt the final blow with a three-pointer. (NC)
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