BLACKWATER leaned on the timely explosion of Roi Sumang to beat an erstwhile-streaking Magnolia Ang Pambansang Manok crew 104-99 in overtime Friday to hit its immediate target in the PBA Commissioner's Cup at the Mall of Asia Arena.
With main man Bobby Ray Parks generally struggling and new import Staphon Blair still feeling his way around, Sumang took it upon himself to prop the Eite's drive by scoring all of his conference-high 19 points in the fourth quarter and extension.
Blair still finished with 14 points, as many rebounds and five blocks in his PBA debut while Parks made just two of his 12 shots from the field for 11 markers, but did boom in a triple that made it a 99-95 count before canning two charities inside the last 29.8 seconds that helped keep Magnolia at bay.
In the end, Blackwater snapped out of a two-game skid and notched its sixth win in nine games, assuring itself of a seat in the eight-team quarterfinals.
More wins in their remaining games against Barangay Ginebra and Alaska and the Elite could even contend for a top two sot and a twice-to-beat advantage over a lower-ranked team in the next round.
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"So happy to get our sixth win. It's been a while," said Backwater coach Aris Dimaunahan, whose team played without an import since Alex Stepheson left last June 14.
"Credit goes to our guys, especially the locals, for helping Staphon Blair," added Dimaunahan. "It's really tough to change imports in the middle of a conference pero again our local guys are committed enough to welcome our new import para makasabay siya sa kung anuman ang gusto naming mangyari."
The loss not only cut short Magnolia's winning streak at five but also dropped it to a 5-3 record, as it relinquished its third-running spot to its latest conqueror.
Paul Lee scored 25 points to breach the 5,000-point plateau while adding six rebounds and eight assists in leading the Hotshots. His three free throws in the last 8.4 seconds of regulation also knotted the count at 84 and extra time was forced when Parks missed a jumper.
James Farr added 23 points, 20 boards and four blocked shots while Jio Jalalon and Mark Barroca wound up with at least 13 points each as they tried to make up for one of Ian Sangalang's off-night in which he scored only four points, 11 below his average, on 2-of-12 shooting.
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It's just that Blackwater proved too much to handle this time around.
Mike Digregorio added 15 points for the Elite with Allein Maliksi chipping in 14, including five in OT.
Even Rabeh Al-Hussaini had his moments for nine points, as well as Mac Belo, who also scored only nine points but did haul down 11 boards.
Still, Sumang was undeniably the offensive anchor breaking the Elite away from the game's 16th and last deadlock at 87 with seven straight points for a 94-87 spread, their biggest of the game.
The former University of the East standout went 6-of-6 from the stripes with his last two freebies making it a 102-95 count.(NC)
The scores:
Blackwater 104 - Sumang 19, Digregorio 15, Maliksi 14, Blair 14, Parks 11, Belo 9, Al-Hussaini 9, Alolino 5, Cortez 4, Sena 4, Banal 0.
Magnolia 99 - Lee 25, Farr 23, Jalalon 14, Barroca 13, Brondial 6, Sangalang 4, Dela Rosa 4, Melton 3, Pingris 3, Herndon 2, Pascual 2, Simon 0.
Quarterscores: 23-23, 39-43, 61-61, 84-84, 104-99
