Photo by Tristan Tamayo/ INQUIRER.net
Stanley Pringle’s herculean effort did not go to waste this time as he lead GlobalPort to a 78-70 victory over Rain or Shine for its first win in the 2018 PBA Philippine Cup Friday at Mall of Asia Arena.
The former Rookie of the Year made most of his damage in the first half where he unleashed 20 of his 29 points on 5-of-10 shooting from beyond the arc to help Batang Pier halt a two-game losing skid. He also had nine rebounds.
Kelly Nabong chipped in 12 markers and 13 boards, while Bradwyn Guinto had a near double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds.
Coming off a 29-point showing against Ginebra, Sean Anthony settled for the dirty work as he collected three markers, 13 rebounds and 12 assists.
That was just the kind of performance coach Pido Jarencio has been looking for as they limited their foes to just 80 points after giving up a league second-worst 109.5 points in their first two games.
“It was a lesson learned for us. We hit our target that we limit our opponents to 80 points below. We talked about it with the players that we have to consider defending and tonight, we played good defense,” he said.
Dexter Maiquez put Rain or Shine within one, 61-62, with 7:16 to go, but GlobalPort responded with an 8-0 blast to take a 70-61 lead with 4:24 left and never let go of the lead.
Gabe Norwood topped the Elastopainters, who suffered their second consecutive defeat to fall to 1-2, with 15 points, eight rebounds.
Mark Borboran added 13 markers on a 3-of-7 clip from downtown, to go with five boards, while Maverick Ahanmisi got 10 points and five rebounds in the losing cause.
The Scores:
GLOBALPORT 78 – Pringle 29, Nabong 12, Guinto 10, Grey 8, Sargent 8, Gabayni 4, Anthony 3, Flores 2, Elorde 2, Arana 0, Juico 0, Taha 0.
RAIN OR SHINE 70 – Norwood 15, Borboran 13, Ahanmisi 10, Belga 8, Nambatac 6, Yap 5, Ponferrada 3, Daquioag 3, Trollano 3, Almazan 2, Maiquez 2,
Quarters: 19-18, 41-35, 58-56, 78-70.