Phelps drops 52, leads Phoenix over GlobalPort
Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
THE man they call “‘El Destructor” during his stints in Central America just lived up to the billing.
Eugene Phelps unveiled a gem of a game with a conference-high 52 points on top of 16 rebounds in powering Phoenix to a 120-107 win over GlobalPort Sunday in the 2016 PBA Governors Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The replacement for the bland Marcus Simmons bucked a busted lower lip and a lost tooth to be at his most destructive in the last two quarters where he almost single-handedly pulled Phoenix way out of GlobalPort’s clutches.
Mick Pennisi, Cyrus Baguio, Simon Enciso and John Wilson were also there in the stretch but it was Phelps who hogged the limelight by scoring eight of his team’s last 14 points from a 106-103 count.
In all, Phelps, who is coming off a stint in Puerto Rico, went 18-for-30 from the field and also made 15 of 21 free throw attempts while dishing out six assists that offset his three turnovers.
None is happier than Ariel Vanguardia, who racked up his first win after four tries as Fuel Masters head coach and all because his team was finally able to sustain its usual run to the end.
“We had good runs in our first three games. We just couldn’t sustain the momentum,” said Vanguardia, who also drew big games from Asian import Lee Gwan-Hee, John Wilson and the returning Willy Wilson.
Vanguardia’s biggest cpmpliment was reserved for Phelps, whom he could have enlisted earlier upon the urging of former mentor and PBA coach Bill Bayno. But he opted for Simmons instead.
“It was my mistake not to bring him earlier,” admitted Vanguardia. “He was ‘Él Destructor,’ ‘The Destroyer.’ He showed why he was ‘The Destroyer.’ According to coach Bill, if he can dominate in Puerto Rico he can dominate the PBA.”
GlobalPort remained winless after four starts despite Stanley Pringle and Mike Glover each winding up with 27 points. Terrence Romeo added 20 markers but, like Pringle, missed some shots and made some turnovers in the end.
Phelps actually lost a front tooth after getting inadvertently elbowed by Glover in the face with still 10:41 left in the third period. The hit was so hard even Glover’s elbow got bloodied.
After getting the tooth extracted by league doctors in the dugout, Phelps got back in the game at the last 5:31 of the period and promptly scored 12 of his points, helping Phoenix take an 86-85 edge into the fourth quarter.
GlobalPort managed to hang tough, however, and was still within 103-106, following a putback by Glover, who also had a gamehigh 17 rebounds.
But Phelps was there to polish off and eventually erase from the tourney books the 44 points made by NLEX’s Henry Walker and wind up with the PBA’s best import debut since Darius Rice netted 56 for Purefoods in the 2008 Fiesta Conference.
Lee and John Wilson played their best game yet in the conference with 16 and 15 points, respectively, while Willy Wilson scored 10 points after missing Phoenix’s last two games due to a shoulder injury.
Joseph Yeo chipped in 14 points for GlobalPort while Jay Washington, recovered from a calf injury, added 13 points in his first game in the tourney.
Enciso laced a six-point game with a triple that made it 116-107 while Baguio pulled off a block on Romeo that John Wilson translated into a charity for a 117-107 count, only1:20 left.
The scores:
PHOENIX 120 – Phelps 52, Lee 16, J. Wilson 15, W. Wilson 10, Baguio 9, Enciso 6, Pennisi 5, Lanete 4, Cruz 3, Buenafe 0, Caperal 0, Torres 0.
GLOBALPORT 107 – Glover 27, Pringle 27, Romeo 20, Yeo 14, Washington 13, Dehesa 4, Mamaril 2, Isip 0, Kramer 0, Semerad 0, Taha 0.
Quarters: 33-26, 58-53, 86-85, 120-107.
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