Japeth Aguilar follow up jam over his teamate Yousif Aljamal PBA IMAGE / Nuki Sabio
MANILA, Philippines — Air21 finally snapped out of a tailspin and buried GlobalPort deeper after a 106-94 victory Sunday in the 2013 PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Express, even with a prolific scoring import in Mike Dunigan in tow, had a long stretch of five games without a taste of the win.
This time, though, Dunigan’s monster numbers were enough to lift Air21. He finished with 35 big points, along with 20 rebounds and two dimes.
“With this victory, it eases the pain a little from our previous games,” said head coach Franz Pumaren. “Hopefully we can sustain this.”
With the Batang Pier just waiting for opening to take over with 5:36 left, Dunigan imposed his will by scoring the next five points to give the Express a 97-91 lead.
Niño Canaleta nailed two freethrows, before veteran guard Wynee Arboleda uncorked a triple with under a minute to go which put Air21 out of harm’s way.
“It was disappointing we lost the lead down the stretch but this time around we finished strong,” said Pumaren as his squad even led 85-74 with 9:36 in the fourth.
GlobalPort, meanwhile, came up short down the stretch anew for its fifth straight loss even with new import Walter Sharpe on deck.
Sharpe finished with 24 points and nine rebounds while Gary David added 20 points for the Batang Pier, who sunk to 2-6.
The scores:
AIR 21 106 – Dunigan 35, Isip 12, Cortez 12, Arboleda 12, Omolon 9, Wilson 8, Canaleta 8, Ritualo 6, Custodio 4, Atkins 0, Baclao 0.
GLOBALPORT 94 – Sharpe 24, David 20, Mandani 13, Miller 12, Mercado 8, Aguilar 6, Aljamal 4, Salvador 4, Yee 3, Antonio 0.
Quarters: 23-15, 47-50, 78-71, 106-94