PBA: Strong finish carries Blackwater past Mahindra

Reil Cervantes vs Mahindra defense. PBA IMAGES

Reil Cervantes and Art dela Cruz drained big shots in the end game as Blackwater downed Mahindra, 110-102 for its first win in the 2016 PBA Commissioner’s Cup Sunday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Cervantes poured 18 of his 24 points in the fourth period on a 3-of-7 shooting from three to lead the show for the Elite.

Carlo Lastimosa paced Blackwater with 26 markers and five rebounds, while MJ Rhett had a better showing this time out, finishing with a double-double of 19 points and 18 boards alongside three assists and two blocks.

Dela Cruz also chipped in 19 markers in the win.

“Going to this game, we only had two legit big guys in Frank Golla and the import MJ Rhett,” said coach Leo Isaac, who had to sit out JP Erram after his freak fall last Wednesday.

“We had to dig deep on our three guy rotation in (Gilbert) Bulawan, (Reil) Cervantes, and Art dela Cruz to rotate defensively against the bigs of Mahindra. Carlo Lastimosa did his usual thing, Mike Cortez orchestrated our offense, Raphy Reyes filling in for Carlo Lastimosa, but the challenge was for everybody to play honest defense.”

With the Enforcers trailing 91-93 in the final four minutes, Cervantes nailed back-to-back treys which was followed by another triple from Dela Cruz to give the Elite a 102-91 lead with 1:59 remaining.

Karl Dehesa and Augustus Gilchrist kept Mahindra in the game and trimmed the lead to just seven, 104-97, with 1:04 to go, but Carlo Lastimosa and Cervantes calmly sank their freebies to ice the game for good.

The Mahindra loss spoiled Gilchrist’s 34-point, 14-rebound outing as the Enforcers fell to 1-1.

Karl Dehesa added 14 markers, while Nino Canaleta, smoking hot anew in the first half, wound up with 13.

The Scores:

BLACKWATER 110 – Lastimosa 26, Cervantes 24, Dela Cruz 19, Rhett 19, Reyes 12, Cortez 5, Gamalinda 2, Golla 2, Bulawan 1, Canada 0.
MAHINDRA 102 – Gilchrist 34, Dehesa 14, Canaleta 13, Ramos 10, Yee 8, Jaime 7, Bagatsing 5, Pinto 5, DiGregorio 2, Guinto 2, Revilla 2, Alvarez 0, Hubalde 0.

Quarters: 25-20, 43-49, 77-75, 110-102.