Elijah Millsap of Petron (dark) vs Mick Pennisi (under) and Michael Singletary of Barako Bull (light). Nuki Sabio/PBA
MANILA, Philippines — Clicking on both ends of the floor, Petron Blaze cruised past Barako Bull, 112-87, to keep the top spot in the 2013 PBA Governors’ Cup Tuesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Import Elijah Millsap led the way with 31 points, nine rebounds and four assists in just three quarters of play for the Boosters, who have now won the five times in six games.
“As I’ve said before this is a very big game for us. We played good defense and at the same time, the offense was there. Right now, we’re on top of the standings, the danger here is if we believe the hype, it could be a cause of complacency. On the other hand, if we stick to our goals, if we’re grounded we’ll be okay,” said Petron head coach Gee Abanilla.
“Realistically, we haven’t done anything else. Right now we have a good chance,” added Abanilla.
Arwind Santos added 20 points while Chris Lutz had 19, 10 in a pivotal stretch in the second quarter where Petron blew the game wide open with a 58-38 halftime lead.
The Boosters showed no letup in the second half as they padded on to their lead even more. One of Santos’ three triples in the game stretched Petron’s lead to 29, 75-46, past the midway mark of the third quarter as Barako Bull looked beat.
Michael Singletary carried the Energy, whose winning run ended at three and dropped to 3-2, with 26 points as he failed to draw support from the locals. Danny Seigle and Ronjay Buenafe had 18 and 16 points respectively but most of their points came when the game was already out of their reach.
Despite Petron’s impressive start, Abanilla said that his team still has to work on its chemistry.