MANILA, Philippines — Barako Bull weathered a last-minute storm by Barangay Ginebra San Miguel to win, 69-68, in the 2015 PBA Commissioner’s Cup Sunday at the Alonte Sports Arena in Biñan, Laguna.
Veteran guard Chico Lanete scored 17 points and had three steals for the Energy, who put themselves in a three-way tie at the top of standings with idle Meralco and Talk ‘N Text at 2-0.
The Tropang Texters won over Blackwater, 88-78, earlier.
Just as surprising as Barako Bull’s play early in the conference, Ginebra, despite having one of the most talented lineups in the league, slumped to 0-2 after losing to the Bolts last Tuesday.
An acrobatic drive by Sol Mercado widened the Energy’s gap to six, 69-63, with 1:26 left. But that only set the game up for a wild windup.
Joseph Yeo stole the ball from Mercado and went for the easy layup that brought the Kings to within four with still 56.6 seconds left. Yeo picked Mercado’s pocket again and hit a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to one, 69-69, 17 seconds later that sent the crowd into a frenzy.
Lanete tried to seal the game with a triple but his shot rimmed out before Yeo misfired on what could’ve been the game-winning trey.
Former Ginebra forward JC Intal had 14 points and Nigerian import Solomon Alabi added 13 while also providing Barako Bull an intimidating presence at the defensive end at 7-foot-1 with long limbs.
Greg Slaughter led Ginebra in scoring for the second straight game with 18 points with Michael Dunigan reportedly not feeling a hundred percent.
Dunigan hasn’t been his old self at least through the first two games in his return to the PBA. He finished with 11 points after netting only 17 points in an 85-74 loss to Meralco.
The Energy led by nine early and they took a 67-59 buffer after a three-point play by Lanete off a touch pass by Alabi with 3:02 remaining.
Mark Caguioa hit a floater over Alabi and Tenorio scored on a laying off a steal to make it, 67-63, with 2:08 left before Mercado extended Barako Bull’s lead back to six.