Ginebra wins back-to-back, nips Mahindra

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It took a long while, but it seems like Barangay Ginebra is finally figuring things out.

The Kings notched their first back-to-back wins in two conferences after downing  Mahindra, 80-76, Sunday in the 2016 Smart Bro PBA Philippine Cup at Ynares Center in Antipolo.

“It wasn’t pretty, but you know me, I’m not into pogi points. We’re just out there, trying to grind out possessions, and hopefully win the game. That’s where we are right now,” said coach Tim Cone.

Greg Slaughter did not have his usual double-double outing, but he’d rather have this result as he led the Gin Kings with 16 points and eight rebounds.

Joe Devance added 14 markers, eight of them coming in the fourth, to go with four boards, and three assists in the victory. Japeth Aguilar also had 12 points and five rebounds while new acquisition Jervy Cruz chipped in 10 markers and six boards.

“Greg and Japeth carried us for a while, LA and Mark, but we got a good spark coming off the bench, a big lift from Jervy, Joe, Scottie (Thompson), Sol (Mercado), and that really helped,” said Cone as the Ginebra bench mob outscored Mahindra’s, 37-24.

“I just felt our first group was lacking in defense tonight, weren’t real quick and sure of themselves defensively, and our second group came out and changed the defensive tempo.”

Trailing, 60-53, near the end of the third quarter, Ginebra unleashed a 23-6 tear abridging the last two frames to turn the seven-point deficit to a 76-66 lead after a midrange jumper from Cruz with 3:11.

Karl Dehesa and LA Revilla still tried to bring Mahindra back to life, but Slaughter iced the win with a top of the key jumper and a pair of free throws, as the Gin Kings improved to 3-3.

“We beat Meralco, which is 0-4 at the time, and Mahindra, which is 1-4 this time. These are the teams you have to beat, the struggling teams, and we just hope that against good teams that we’ll play well against them,” said Cone.

Karl Dehesa topscored for Mahindra with 17 points while Aldrech Ramos got 13 markers and 11 rebounds. Mark Yee notched his third double-double of the conference after finishing with 10 points and 11 boards, but even his effort could not stop Mahindra from falling to a 1-5 slate.

The scores:

GINEBRA 80 – Slaughter 16, Devance 14, Aguilar 12, Cruz 10, Caguioa 7, Ellis 6, Mercado 4, Salva 4, Marcelo 3, Tenorio 2, Thompson 2.

MAHINDRA 76 – Dehesa 17, Ramos 13, Pascual 12, Yee 10, Bagatsing 8, Guinto 6, Revilla 6, Hubalde 2, Pinto 2, Alvarez 0, Canaleta 0.

Quarters: 21-15, 38-42, 57-60, 80-76.