COACH Jeff Cariaso was expecting Rey Nambatac to make an immediate impact on his new Blackwater team.
The former Rain or Shine guard did not disappoint, racking up a double-double and leading the Bossing to a 96-93 escape over Meralco Wednesday at the start of the PBA Season 48 Philippine Cup at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.
Nambatac finished with 27 points and a career-high 10 assists and laced his sterling performance with a defensive rebound in the dying seconds that prevented the Bolts from completing their fightback from a 67-86 deficit.
"We were able to maintain it just enough but again you can only expect that from a veteran team like Meralco," said Cariaso, who was on pins and needles when Meralco inched to within 93-94, still 57 seconds left.
"You can expect that they're always gonna come back, they have the players and the experience to handle situations like that," added Cariaso. "So I think we're gonna look back at that fourth (quarter) and where we kept losing the lead. That's where we have to be better, that's what we have to improve."
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Nambatac rose to the occasion, however, when he turned a Richard Escoto offensive rebound into a pair of charities that made him a perfect 12-of-12 from the stripes and gave the Bossing the three-point lead, 19.5 ticks to go.
The curtains finally fell on Meralco's bid when Allein Maliksi, who spearheaded the fightback with 20 of his 27 points in the fourth period, muffed his last three-point try with Nambatac collaring the game-securing rebound.
It was Blackwater's first win since its 103-84 win over Converge in the Commissioner's Cup opener back in November, after which it lost 10 straight and wound up next-to-last in Cariaso's first conference with the team.
Cariaso gave a ton of credit to the southpaw Blackwater acquired from Rain or Shine just before the conference started. "What do I like is everything about him," said Cariaso.
"One thing that we know moving forward is, this guy's only gonna get better," added Cariaso. "I love the fact that he has a chip on his shoulder. He comes in each and every day with something to prove and with a guy like that on your team you can never go wrong. We're really happy. This is just the first step, but a big first step."
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Nambatac was quick to deflect some of the credit to his teammates for turning most of his passes into buckets. "Thankful ako and grateful to coach Jeff and my teammates kasi sobrang laki ng tiwala nila sa akin," he said.
"Every time I have the ball alam nila kung ano gagawin ko. Kumbaga, eye-to-eye contact na lang kami. So for me, kaya ganoon kataas ang assists ko, alam na nila kung paano ako maglaro."
Like Nambatac, Troy Rosario also heated up after the opening frame to wind up with 15 points while Rey Suerte and Tyrus Hill chipped in at least 10 points each.
Chris Newsome contributed 16 points and Aaron Black, Jolo Mendoza and Raymar Jose scored 10 points apiece for Meralco, which led by eight points early but got lost in the face of Blackwater's more aggressive stance starting from the second quarter up to the first four minutes of the final frame. (NC)
The Scores:
BLACKWATER 96 - Nambatac 27, Rosario 15, Suerte 11, Hill 10, DiGregorio 9, David 7, Escoto 6, Guinto 5, Yap 5, Jopia 1, Ilagan 0, Kwekuteye 0, Sena 0.
MERALCO 93 - Maliksi 27, Newsome 16, Jose 10, Mendoza 10, Black 10, Hodge 6, Banchero 5, Quinto 3, Bates 3, Torres 3, Caram 0, Pasaol 0, Pascual 0.
QUARTERS: 18-26, 43-41, 72-62, 96-93
