Ginebra whips Mahindra, nabs third straight win
Barangay Ginebra got off to a jackrabbit start and hardly wavered in fashioning out a wire-to-wire 104-86 whipping of Mahindra in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Ynares Sports Center in Antipolo Wednesday night.
The Gin Kings stoked the fire of back-to-back wins over the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters and the Star Hotshots, going above the .500 mark with a 3-2 win-loss card.
Ginebra kept its unbeaten mark in head-on duels with Mahindra and forced a tie between the two of them at second place behind Meralco (5-0) in the mid-season tourney.
Othyus Jeffers came through with a near triple-job with 24 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists, with LA Tenorio having his own splendid all-around game with 15 markers, seven assists and six boards.
Greg Slaughter and Japeth Aguilar came up with double-double efforts, combining for 26 points and 21 rebounds to make things easier for the Gin Kings.
On the other end, Ginebra made it tough for Mahindra import Augustus Gilchrist whom they limited to 18 markers and 13 boards.
Game stoppages due to cuts sustained by Mark Caguioa and Slaughter didn’t affect the early momentum built by the Gin Kings.
Curiously, Caguioa and Slaughter drew cuts on their right brows both on a wayward elbow by teammate Aguilar.
Ginebra scored the first 11 points of the game, took the opening quarter at 22-13 and sat on a 46-27 cushion at the half.
The Enforcers nailed a first basket courtesy of Kyle Pascual on a perimeter shot with already four minutes and a half into the game.
At 2-16, Kia drew a second basket on another conversion from the perimeter area by Pascual.
From a 19-point halftime deficit, the Enforcers hit a good stride, rallying to within seven, 48-55, midway through the third.
The Kings, however, quickly regrouped and pulled away again at 68-50.
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