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Ray Parks has been the consistent headliner for Blackwater in its campaign early in the 2019 PBA Commissioner’s Cup.
The Elite, however, have depth and they showed just that in a 98-92 win over the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters on Sunday.
Blackwater had multiple players having significant impact with five players scoring double-digits led by Allein Maliksi’s 19 points.
“What we want for our team is to not be just a one-man show,” Blackwater coach Aris Dimaunahan said in Filipino after steering his team to its fourth win in five outings.
“We want everybody to contribute not just in scoring but if we let them play, they’ll contribute in every way possible whether it be diving for the ball, boxing out or defending top caliber players.”
Parks came into the game having scored at least 20 points in his first four games in the PBA but Blackwater didn’t need its prized rookie to score as much this time with several players stepping up.
The Elite still drew 16 points from Parks, who came up big down the stretch, going 6-of-6 from the free throw line in the final one minute and 29 seconds with the Painters threatening.
Mike DiGregorio also had 16 while import Alex Stepheson posted 13 points and 20 rebounds. Roi Sumang also had himself a night with 11 points, five rebounds, seven assists and three steals while Mac Belo chipped in seven points and seven rebounds.
“They played really, really well tonight as a team. We did what we wanted to do, we played great defense.”