BARANGAY Ginebra's game still has to fully come together, but yet another subpar performance still was enough to hurdle Blackwater, 96-81, Friday in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig.
Stanley Pringle, LA Tenorio and Christian Standhardinger made the biggest plays whenever the Kings got threatened in the fourth quarter, enabling them to ultimately hurdle the gritty Bossing and bounce back from a sorry 75-94 beating from NLEX in the defending champion's opener last Sunday.
Ginebra coach Tim Cone was simply pleased his team was able to score the breakthrough despite some spotty second half shooting and 21 turnovers. "It wasn't pretty, that's for sure," he said Cone.
"We haven't put together any pretty basketball yet. We're still working on being more coherent... more together in our play right now. It's been a little bit of a struggle," added Cone. "We weren't ready to play against NLEX, that's for sure. We did a better job of coming in a little bit more focused (today)."
Obviously picking up his game more was Pringle, who scored just eight points in their opener but led Ginebra with 19 points this time, including eight in the final canto.
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Tenorio also scored eight points in the final frame to finish with 17 points while Prince Caperal, Japeth Aguilar, Scottie Thompson and Standhardinger all scoring at least 11 points. The Fil-German center added a game-high 19 rebounds.
Mike Tolomia's game-high 22 points led Blackwater. Simon Enciso added 16 points and Kelly Nabong 10, but those were simply not enough to bail the Bossing out of a 0-3 slate and the cellar.
Blackwater sure gave Ginebra a big scare though.
Led by Tolomia and with Marion Magat, Enciso and Paul Desiderio helping out the most, the Bossing capped their climb from as much as a 26-43 deficit to threaten within 67-69 at the end of the third period.
Baser Amer's layup kept Blackwater within 77-79 and Nabong's four straight free throws made it an 81-86 count, still 3:22 remaining.
But Blackwater could simply not get over the hump as it went 0-of-5 from the field and committed one turnover the rest of the way.
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Standhardinger, meanwhile, ensured Ginebra's win by completing back-to-back three-point plays before Caperal added two more freebies for the final count. (NC)
The scores:
Barangay Ginebra 96 - Pringle 19, Tenorio 17, Caperal 16, J. Aguilar 14, Thompson 11, Chan 5, Dillinger 2, Devance 1, Enriquez 0, Holmqvist 0, Ayaay 0.
Blackwater 81 - Tolomia 22, Enciso 16, Nabong 10, Magat 8, Daquioag 6, Desiderio 6, Amer 5, Paras 4, Semerad 2, Canaleta 2, Dennison 0, Torralba 0, Acuno 0, Escoto 0, Gabriel 0.
Quarters: 21-13, 45-32, 69-67, 96-81.
