For Blackwater coach Bong Ramos, luck comes when preparation meets opportunity.
The Elite were ready for every San Miguel Beer onslaught Wednesday night and grabbed the breaks that came their way in the end for a fantastic 103-100 escape act in the PBA Governors’ Cup at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
“We prepared for them (Beermen) every single day and figured out all of their plays,” said Ramos after the Elite recorded their best two-game start in franchise history in a conference with imports.
They saw an opening to wrestle the game away from the Beermen late in the fourth when Nards Pinto and Henry Walker engineered a spurt that allowed the Elite to cut loose.
Pinto’s go-ahead mid-range jumper set the tone while Walker buried a long three before punctuating the run with a three-point play for a six-point advantage less than two minutes remaining.
And to think that these guys didn’t see eye-to-eye at one point early in the game.
“There was a misunderstanding between Nards and Henry. It obviously affected Henry’s game in the second quarter, but good thing they patched things up after the halftime break,” said Ramos.
In the end, Pinto, scoreless the entire first half, poured all of his 15 points in the final 18 minutes and had nine rebounds and seven assists, including a nifty feed to Poy Erram underneath that resulted in a pair of converted free throws off Christian Standhardinger for the final count.
The Beermen, who dropped to 1-1, had the chance to equalize and force extra time, but Arwind Santos bungled a perfectly launched corner three as time ran out.
“Our team showed great character out there. As I’ve said, the only way we can beat San Miguel is to play great defense, and that’s exactly what we did tonight,” said Ramos.
Later in the night, Barangay Ginebra zoomed to the solo lead after holding off NorthPort, 104-98, behind timely baskets from Japeth Aguilar in the stretch.
Aguilar had a key putback and a jumper late in the game as Ginebra won its third game in as many outings.
San Miguel’s four-time MVP June Mar Fajardo continued to sit it out to rehabilitate a stress fracture on his injured right shin.
It also didn’t help the Beermen that Arizona Reid was scoreless in the final quarter.
“We’re lucky there’s no Fajardo. I guess our preparation before the conference made the players become close to each other,” said Ramos, whose Elite played in a pair of tournaments in Indonesia and Macau prior to the season-ending conference.