PBA: Blackwater squeaks past Columbian to halt 4-game skid

Blackwater held off Columbian, 106-100, to arrest a four-game skid in Friday night’s PBA Philippine Cup action at Mall of Asia Arena.

Allein Maliksi fired 29 points while Mac Belo mounted his best scoring performance in a long while with 22 markers.

“At least we know how to finish the game already,” Blackwater coach Bong Ramos told reporters in the post-game presser. “We finished it strong.”

“They really wanted to win today,” he added. “They continue to try to improve. We all know that there’s talent within the team. But we’re still a bit rough on the edges.”

“We just have to continue train, try to get a W,” Ramos shared. “The morale is high within the team not because they’re on top—but because they’re seeing who the system pays dividends.”

The Dyip, led by their star rookie CJ Perez and skipper Rashawn McCarthy, had a chance to cut a 100-104 deficit with 13 seconds left to play, but took a while to inbound the basketball.

Perez had 22 in the outing to go with eight rebounds while McCarthy had 18 points coming off the heels of a career-best performance and a remark that the tussle against Blackwater is a “winnable game.”

“That’s our motivation to my players, too,” Ramos said, apropos of McCarthy’s comment. “We can match up—any position. I asked them to just continue to have faith, to trust the system.

Blackwater, which improved to 2-6 in the All-Filipino tournament, is looking to employ a relaxed approach to its final three games.

“We’re not thinking about it,” Ramos said of their chances in making the quarterfinals. “We’re just going to take it one game at a time.”

Ramos and his wards face TNT next at Ynares Center in Antipolo on Mar. 9.

Columbian, which dropped to 3-5, looks at a tall task in a bid to return to the win column. It is set to tangle with league-leading Rain or Shine on Mar. 6 at the Big Dome.