PBA IMAGES
Ginebra fended off a pesky Rain or Shine squad to come away with its first win, a 103-92 squeaker Sunday in the 2016 PBA Commissioner’s Cup at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Othyus Jeffers fought against back spasms and delivered 38 points and 20 rebounds for Ginebra while Greg Slaughter finished with 16 points and 14 boards.
“Boy, that’s a relief,” said Ginebra head coach Tim Cone as his team improved to 1-2.
“We got one under our belt. That was a must win, basically. We couldn’t fall behind 0-3 and we needed to win this just to get our conference up and think that we could do this.”
Joe Devance poured in 13 points, including the big trey to douse Rain or Shine’s late rampage with 2:29 remaining in the game. Japeth Aguilar had 10 points and five rebounds.
With Ginebra leading by as much as 16, 93-77 in the 5:21 mark of the fourth, Rain or Shine staged a big rally and came as close as seven, 97-90 after a Jericho Cruz runner.
But Slaughter easily got a layup on the other end, followed by a basket by Sol Mercado off a feed from LA Tenorio to put the game away for the Gin Kings.
JR Quinahan led the way for the skidding Elasto Painters with 21 points and eight rebounds, while new reinforcement Antoine Wright only had 16 markers and eight boards in his debut for Rain or Shine.
The scores:
GINEBRA 103 – Jeffers 38, Slaughter 16, Devance 13, Aguilar 10, Ellis 7, Thompson 5, Caguioa 4, Mercado 4, Tenorio 3, Marcelo 2, Cruz 1.
RAIN OR SHINE 92 – Quinahan 21, Wright 16, Chan 13, Cruz 10, Ahanmisi 8, Belga 8, Ibanes 3, Almazan 2, Ponferrada 2, Tiu 1, Trollano 0.
Quarters: 28-23, 53-44, 82-70, 103-92.