Pringle rewards GlobalPort coaches and teammates’ trust with game-winner
GlobalPort’s Terrence Romeo and Stanley Pringle share a moment in the Batang Pier’s close win over the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters on Friday. Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
In dire need of a basket with the game on the line, GlobalPort went to Stanley Pringle and the third-year guard delivered.
Pringle only had 14.6 seconds to operate, enough time to beat three Rain or Shine defenders in Jireh Ibanes, Beau Belga and Raymond Almazan and hit the game-winning layup with 0.5 tenths of a second left.
“It feels good. They trust me the ball and I came through,” said Pringle, the reigning Rookie of the Year, on his winning it for his team, 113-111, Friday.
“Just being aggressive and making the right play, they trusted me with the ball in the end and I just wanted to be aggressive, take it to the rim and read the right play.”
“The defense gave me a little opening and I saw (Jericho) Cruz come over, but he faked in double-teaming me and that’s when I attacked the rim and it was open for a layup,” Pringle recalled.
The go-ahead bucket was just part of Pringle’s sensational 27-point night.
“Exceptional talaga si Stanley kasi consistent sya since the start of the season,” Batang Pier head coach Pido Jarencio said.
Pringle’s heroics extended his team’s winning run which is now at three games after opening the season with a loss to defending Philippine Cup champion San Miguel Beer.
“We’re on a roll, but we still have to beat teams and get a couple of more wins, look forward to our next couple of games because we could easily get off-tracked and you know how that goes. We just got to keep on looking forward,” he said as GlobalPort tied Rain or Shine, San Miguel Beer and Alaska in first place.
Pringle knows it won’t be the last time that a game will boil down to a last shot and when that time comes, he hopes to have the same result.
“Hopefully next time, I’ll come through and make the right play again,” he said.
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