PBA: Jordan Williams wins battle of high-scoring imports
Terrafirma import Jordan Williams in the PBA Governors’ Cup. –PBA IMAGES
A fire broke out in the vicinity of Smart Araneta Coliseum on Thursday, pressing pause on the first half of a scheduled PBA doubleheader.
When the game resumed, a blazing scoring rampage between two imports with the same surname erupted inside the Big Dome, with Terrafirma taking a 119-106 victory over Blackwater in their Governors’ Cup encounter.
Jordan Williams put up 57 points, outscoring Blackwater counterpart Troy Williams by two in a performance that perhaps cemented his status as one of the top imports of the season-ending conference.
Bad days over
The other Williams, who came in as a replacement for Shawn Glover, had 55 points but the Bossing couldn’t stop the Dyip from flooring the gas pedal on the way to a 2-2 record, a welcome slate for a team that once lost 25 straight games spanning three conferences.
“It was a great game for both of us, of course,” said Terrafirma’s Williams. “We knew he was gonna come in aggressive. He just came from Taiwan (for the Taoyuan Leopards of the T1 League) and he’s an ex-NBA player so he knows what he’s doing out there.”
“For myself, I just had confidence every time I stepped onto the floor. I feel like I can play with anybody so I wasn’t worried about the game today and I felt we were gonna win,” he added.
With the age of super imports long past, it was a rare sight to see two imports drop at least 50 points in a single game—the last time it happened was nearly seven years ago.
Lights out
Former NBA cager Al Thornton had 69 points for NLEX but ended up on the losing end as Tyler Wilkerson went for 58 in San Miguel Beer’s 131-127 triple overtime win on April 5, 2016, also at the Big Dome.
Terrafirma led by 18 early in the second quarter and 37-26 with over seven minutes to go in the same period when play was stopped after the lights went out, a situation that could have been caused by the fire that broke out in a bus depot near the coliseum.
The game eventually resumed without further incident, with Terrafirma preventing Blackwater from completing a second- half comeback.
Juami Tiongson’s 27 points, seven rebounds and five assists and Eric Camson’s 17 points and nine rebounds were also crucial for coach Johnedel Cardel’s squad.
“We were not playing as a team [in the second quarter] and I told the team that we would not win even if all of them would score 15 to 20 points,” said Cardel in Filipino.
“But if we support who was the hot teammate on the floor, we would win,” he added.
