GlobalPort rolls over Blackwater
PBA IMAGES
GlobalPort outlasted Blackwater in a shootout 120-115 Sunday to finally get the momentum it wants in the 2016 Smart Bro PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Terrence Romeo came off the bench to score 26 points while Stanley Pringle, Doug Kramer, Joseph Yeo and Rico Maierhofer chipped in ample contributions in leading the Batang Pier’s irrepressible charge.
The cruising victory was GlobalPort’s fourth in seven games and snapped it out of a two-game slide while Blackwater absorbed its third straight defeat and sixth in seven games overall.
“It was a total team effort,” said winning coach Pido Jarencio after GlobalPort got back on track following losses to Alaska (123-104) and Barangay Ginebra (85-70).
“Masama iyung mga pagkatalo namin sa Alaska at Ginebra kaya kailangan talaga manalo naman ngayon, para umakyat.”
The win placed the Batang Pier in a tie for sixth-running position with NLEX and Ginebra, but that should be broken since the Kings are taking on Rain or Shine later on Sunday and the Batang Pier and Road Warriors collide Wednesday.
GlobalPort is also set to take on Meralco, Mahindra and TNT next in a bid to salvage a spot among the third- to sixth-ranked teams which are given a win-once advantage in the first phase of the quarterfinals.
“Kaya talagang kailangan naming manalo ngayon dahil iyung mga natitirang kalaban malalakas pa,” said Jarencio.
The Batang Pier sure stand a good chance against their remaining opponents if they display the same fiery form against the Elite.
Carlo Lastimosa scattered a career-high 31 points in helping Blackwater come up with its highest output this season, but that production pales in comparison to GlobalPort’s, which is the second most by a team this conference and three short of the Mike Romero-owned franchise’s best set in last year’s Governors Cup.
In all, GlobalPort made 44 of 95 attempts from the field and totally dominated the boards 64-49. Those helped the Batang Pier take a 21-12 advantage in second chance points, start taking control of the game from midway of the first quarter and post as much as a 120-103 spread.
“Kung ganito lang sana ang inilaro nu’ng last two games namin baka naka-split man lang kami and we would have had a chance sa top two. indi na namin target iyung top two (which are automatically seeded to the semifinals),” related Jarencio. “Iyung Nos. 3 to 6 okay na kami doon.,” said Jarencio.
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