ANTIPOLO — Barangay Ginebra remained in the hunt for a quarterfinal seat in the PBA Season 50 Philippine Cup following a 103-85 mauling of a free-falling Blackwater on Wednesday night at the Ynares Center here.
The Kings turned it up in the third quarter with a 40-point blast, turning a narrow one-point lead at the end of the opening period into a 63-42 gap at the half toward netting their second victory in a row for their first win streak of the season.
Along the process, the crowd darlings hiked their card to 4-4, remaining at no. 8 in the standings behind Meralco (4-4), which beat them earlier in the tilt.
More wins in the final three games of their elimination round campaign versus the also-ran Terrafirma, Rain or Shine, and Titan Ultra–in that order–shall enable Coach Tim Cone and his charges to advance to the quarterfinals.
(C) PBA Images
“We needed a really good performance tonight,” Cone said post-game. “We’re still in the middle of the standings. We’re still… I wouldn’t say we’re groping for form, but we’re still searching for ourselves a little bit at this point.
“Tonight’s game was absolutely crucial for us, and another one on Friday [versus the Dyip] before we leave for Bahrain and then play a tough game against a really tough Rain or Shine,” added the champion mentor.
All but two scored in the lopsided triumph, with RJ Abarrientos showing the way with 15 points–spiked by a troika of three-pointers–in 21 minutes.
Stephen Holt and Jeremiah Gray provided 12 points each, with Holt adding seven rebounds to his tally. Jayson David made 11 points, including eight straight to open the second chapter, and eight rebounds plus two assists.
Troy Rosario chipped in 10 points for Ginebra, which actually found itself staring at a 9-1 deficit at the start of the ball game before catching up.
“We wanted to get off to a really good start so I think we were a little frustrated in the beginning of the game. We needed to get over that frustration, so we could get locked in to what we needed to do,” Cone offered.
(C) PBA Images
Dalph Panopio, meanwhile, had 22 points and eight rebounds for Blackwater, which fell to its eighth straight defeat and is now out of playoff contention.
Panopio and Abu Tratter still played for the Bossing even though they’re set to fly to Thailand on Thursday for Gilas duties in the 33rd Southeast Asian Games. Tratter played decently as well with 12 points and seven rebounds.
Sedrick Barefield finished with 17 points and five rebounds in the defeat that dragged the regular bottom-dwellers’ win-loss record down to 1-8.
Blackwater will conclude its conference with meetings against juggernauts San Miguel Beer and TNT on December 13 and 19, respectively.
The Scores:
Ginebra 103 – Abarrientos 15, Holt 12, Gray 12, David 11, Rosario 10, Torres 9, Thompson 8, J.Aguilar 8, Estil 7, R.Aguilar 6, Cu 3, Adamos 2, Pinto 0
Blackwater 85 – Panopio 22, Barefield 17, Tratter 12, Mallilin 8, Una 8, David 7, Guinto 6, Dumont 5, Mendoza 0, Jopia 0, Andrade 0, Zamar 0
Quarterscores: 23-22, 63-42, 80-64, 103-85.
