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Stanley Pringle enjoys having the full trust of the GlobalPort coaching staff that even if he muffed two potential game-winners in their duel against Meralco, he still kept finding the ball in his hands in their double-overtime victory.
The 2015 PBA Rookie of the Year orchestrating the offense for the Batang Pier in the clutch where he set up Anthony Semerad for the game-winning triple from the right corner with 14.9 seconds remaining for a 126-123 win Sunday night.
“Definitely, every timeout, we are instructed to do it,” Pringle said, as coach Johnedel Cardel and team consultant Franz Pumaren willingly gave him the keys to make the pivotal decisions in the endgame.
Pringle got blocked by Cliff Hodge in regulation and saw his reverse layup rattle out at the buzzer of the first overtime.
Still, that didn’t discourage him from making the defining play that paved the way for Semerad’s big basket.
“It’s just the best role for us to play. At the end of the game, everybody is focusing with the guy with the ball and as you can see, everybody is staying home. It was my shot, missed it, missed my reverse, so I just move on. And Anthony did it in the second overtime,” he said.
Pringle posted 15 points on top of eight assists and six rebounds and more importantly, delivered GlobalPort’s breakthrough win after failing in its first four tries.
“It feels great and it feels good. When they tie the game, I was thinking what are we going to do to win, and fortunately, we found a way to win,” he said.