Terrence Romeo vs Japeth Aguilar. PBA IMAGES
It was an unwelcome sight for coach Pido Jarencio to look at the big LED board hanging inside the Big Dome before the game and see the words “No Defense” beside GlobalPort’s name.
That’s why when the buzzer sounded and the game commenced, the Batang Pier doubled their effort on defense and accomplished what it couldn’t do last Friday – win.
GlobalPort continued to be a thorn in Ginebra’s side, this time pulling off a 89-85 thriller to keep the crowd favorites winless at 0-2 in the 2016 Oppo PBA Commissioner’s Cup Sunday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
“It’s a total team effort, at the same time, iaappreciate ko yung defense namin,” said Jarencio.
Terrence Romeo dropped 21 points on a 5-of-10 shooting from three that went with six assists and four rebounds.
He also nailed the go-ahead three over LA Tenorio at the top of the arc to push the Batang Pier ahead, 87-85, with 55.5 left in the game.
Brian Williams also made a better account of himself this time out, finishing with 19 markers, 17 rebounds, five dimes, and two blocks in the win.
The same goes for Stanley Pringle, who had 14 points and five rebounds, while Billy Mamaril got 12 markers against his old squad.
Despite GlobalPort edging the Gin Kings anew, Jarencio refused to acknowledge the win as a sign of GlobalPort owning Ginebra’s number.
“Nag-bounce back lang siguro yung team dahil mabigat yung talo sa Mahindra. Wala kaming energy. Ngayon from the start, lahat gusto manalo,” he said.
The loss to the Enforcers still stung the Batang Pier in the defensive end, as they allowed 31 points in the first quarter alone.
“For now, we played excellent defense. In the end, breaks of the game. They missed shots and we got the rebounds,” said Jarencio.
After the go-ahead Romeo three, Othyus Jeffers muffed on his drive and Greg Slaughter also missed on his tip.
Though Romeo missed a trey on the other end, LA Tenorio overshot his open trey from the left corner in the final 10 seconds of the game. Slaughter and Sol Mercado had a miscommunication in the rebound play as the ball sailed out of bounds.
Pringle sank two pressure-packed freebies with 2.0 ticks left to seal the deal for GlobalPort.
Slaughter, on his first game back since suffering from measles, led the way for the still winless Gin Kings with 20 points and seven rebounds.
Ginebra battled back from 15-points down, 52-37 in the second quarter but still failed to avenge their quarterfinals defeat to GlobalPort last conference,
Japeth Aguilar had 16 markers, while Jeffers was off from the field, shooting 4-of-12 to only finish with eight points, though he also hauled down 16 boards in the defeat.
It was also a sorry loss for Tenorio, who became the 28th overall member of the PBA’s 2,000-assists club late in the fourth quarter.
The Scores:
GLOBALPORT 89 – Romeo 21, Williams 19, Pringle 14, Mamaril 12, Semerad 7, Kramer 6, Jensen 5, Uyloan 3, Taha 2, Maierhofer 0, Sumang 0, Washington 0, Yeo 0.
GINEBRA 85 – Slaughter 20, Aguilar 16, Mercado 11, Caguioa 10, Jeffers 8, Thompson 8, Cruz 4, Ellis 4, Tenorio 4, Devance 0.
Quarters: 33-20, 56-43, 70-65, 89-85.