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Without Greg Slaughter in Ginebra’s collossal duel against San Miguel on Sunday, coach Tim Cone feared for the worst with June Mar Fajardo primed to dominate his squad’s frontline.
That was the case in the first quarter as the Beermen leapt to a 16-point lead, 33-17.
But the Gin Kings’ “never-say-die” mantra showed and it all started when Cone reached deep in his bag of tricks and found gems in Jervy Cruz and Raymond Aguilar.
The two made up for Slaughter’s absence and gave Fajardo all he could handle as Ginebra made a second half rally to take a thrilling 100-96 victory.
Cruz fired 10 of his 17 points in the payoff period, while also hauling down seven rebounds, while the seldom-used Aguilar notched 16 markers.
The pair knew how important the victory with the Gin Kings snapping their three-game losing slide.
“Coach Tim was frustrated on us because we’ve already lost three straight games. So we knew we really had to bounce back,” said Cruz.
And after that lackluster showing in the first half, Cone no longer needed to say a word for the players to get his message across as the pair stepped up to the plate.
“We just worked because we don’t have Greg and we don’t have Joe (Devance), so we have to step up because we’ve already lost three straight. It’s going to hurt more if we still lose to San Miguel,” said Cruz.
Aguilar added: “Coach told us next man up. So it was a total team effort from us. We reserves stepped up and we’re lucky that we got the win. We needed this so that we won’t go down the standings and we’re fortunate that we had a good effort on our defense and our shots went in.”
Playing stupendously in slaying the reigning three-time Philippine Cup champions, it’s almost a certainty that Aguilar and Cruz will be raring to go whenever Cone calls their numbers.
And with Slaughter set to return on Saturday against NLEX, they are confident that Ginebra can once again go back to its old winning ways.
“We’re just ready. Whether we get in the game or not, we’re used to it,” said Aguilar.
“Raymond and I are ready whenever coach Tim gives us a break. He just told us to just play and stay positive. Now that we’re going to have Greg back, we’re more confident,” Cruz said.