The Globalport Batang Pier just have Ginebra’s number.
Terrence Romeo made a clutch triple that bucked the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, 89-84, Sunday evening at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
GlobalPort jumped out right off the gates with a 33-20 ending to the first quarter. During the opening period, they ran in transition for easy points, and four quick triples installed their lead. Ginebra had 10 first quarter points from Japeth Aguilar, but struggled to string up consecutive points in the latter stretch of the period.
Ginebra relied to their bench to claw their way back to the game. Scottie Thompson and the returning Greg Slaughter teamed up to pull their crew and tie things up at 35. However, three straight bombs from downtown broke the game wide open in favor of the Batang Pier. Terrence Romeo also provided two dimes to end the first half to give GlobalPort a baker’s dozen lead, 56-43.
The Kings settled for a zone in their defensive scheme while GlobalPort started to cool off from the perimeter. The crowd awakened for Ginebra through a 10-0 run in the middle of the quarter that put them to within two at 65-63. In addition, Thompson and LA Tenorio initiated the running game against GlobalPort. Entering the fourth quarter, Batang Pier retained their lead, 70-65.
As momentum slowly shifted its arrow, Ginebra finally snatched the lead for the first time in the fourth quarter. Back-and-forth action featured multiple lead changes between the two teams in the final frame. Sol Mercado knocked down a wing triple with five minutes to go to make it an 81-77 game in favor of the Kings. However, Brian Williams and Terrence Romeo led a 10-4 counter to once again shift the lead towards the Batang Pier. Romeo knocked down a big triple to cap the run, while Jeffers and Tenorio missed potential clutch baskets late on. Free throws by Pringle sealed the game for the Batang Pier.
Terrence Romeo led all scorers with 21 points on an 8/20 shooting clip. He knocked down five triples in the game and dished out six assists. Import Brian Williams added a huge double-double with 19 points and 17 boards.
The twin towers of Ginebra combined for 36 points. Slaughter, coming off the bench, was 50% from the field and 4/4 for the charity stripe to score 20 points. Japeth Aguilar added 16 points on an efficient 6/9 clip.
Even with Ginebra holding a 44-30 advantage in paint points, the Batang Pier converted on ten triples in the game, seven more than Ginebra. Moreover, Globalport displayed greater ball movement, assisting on 16 of their 22 field goal makes.
GlobalPort (1-1) look to start their conference winning streak against the Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters (1-1) on February 19, 7pm at the SM Mall of Asia Arena. On the other hand, Ginebra (0-2) look for their first win against the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters (1-0) on February 21, 5:15pm at Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
The Scores:
GlobalPort (89) – Terrence Romeo 21, Williams 19, Pringle 14, Mamaril 12, Semerad 7, Kramer 6, Jensen 5, Uyloan 3, Taha 2, Yeo 0, Maierhofer 0, Washington 0, Sumang 0.
Ginebra (85) – Slaughter 20, Aguilar 16, Mercado 11, Caguioa 10, Jeffers 8, Thompson 8, Cruz 4, Ellis 4, Tenorio 4, Devance 0.
Quarterscores: 33-20, 56-43, 70-65, 89-85.
Photo courtesy of PBA Images
