In his first game back after figuring in a melee, Jamie Malonzo produced his finest performance.
The 6-foot-7 winger, despite still nursing a black eye, dropped a career-high 32 points, leading Ginebra San Miguel to a 113-107 escape of Rain or Shine to open their PBA Season 48 Philippine Cup campaign on Friday at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
Malonzo, who missed Gilas’ home game in the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Qualifiers against Chinese-Taipei last February 25 after figuring in a brawl at a local fast food restaurant in Bonifacio Global City, shot 12-of-24 from the field while adding eight rebounds, four blocks, and two steals to his name.
His previous career-high was 29 points which he set back on March 5, 2023 in Ginebra’s 120-101 rout of Converge.
“We are actually really proud of Jamie and what he did tonight and how he came back to practice. He let the game do the talking,” said Ginebra head coach Tim Cone.
However, in cruise control for most of the game, Ginebra figured in a scare against Rain or Shine — a team trying to avoid falling to a 0-3 hole.
The Gin Kings were up 107-92 with just a little over three minutes left in the game.
The Elasto Painters trio of Adrian Nocum, Gian Mamuyac, and Andrei Caracut suddenly found their touch, knocking big bucket after big bucket to eventually cut the lead down to four, 111-107, with 12.5 seconds left.
Controversy ensued afterward.
Off an inbound, Caracut tried to sneak in a steal against Maverick Ahanmisi. What Rain or Shine thought was a turnover ended up as a foul, resulting in two free throws for the reigning Most Improved Player which he knocked down.
In the next play, Caracut attempted a corner three which Ahanmisi contested. However, the referees saw the shooter extending his foot outward during the attempt which resulted in an offensive foul.
“For our first game, we pretty much led from start to end. It was physical, it was chippy, it was all those things. We really did not know what to expect coming into our first game while they were in rhythm which made it difficult for us,” said Cone.
“We kind of lost our discipline down the stretch, there’s no doubt about that. We made some mental mistakes down the stretch. We are a veteran team, we should know that and the guys know that. They’ll clean it up on their own,” he added.
(C) PBA Images
With Scottie Thompson out due to a back injury, the duo of Stanley Pringle and Maverick Ahanmisi stepped up.
Ahanmisi produced 18 points, nine rebounds, and nine assists while Pringle tallied 12 points, three assists, and three rebounds off the bench.
The frontcourt of Christian Standhardinger and Japeth Aguilar also delivered with the former tallying a double-double of 18 points and 13 rebounds while the latter got 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting.
Ginebra will play its second game of the conference on Sunday against Meralco, still at the Big Dome.
Meanwhile, Anton Asistio led Rain or Shine with 21 points built on five triples.
Santi Santillan, Caracut, and Mamuyac all finished with 16 points apiece with Santillan also grabbing nine boards.
Rain or Shine will look to snap out of its skid on March 15 against San Miguel. The game which will also be played at Araneta will have a 4:30 p.m. tip off time.
The Scores:
Ginebra 113 – Malonzo 32, Standhardinger 18, Ahanmisi 18, J.Aguilar 17, Pringle 12, Cu 7, Pinto 5, Gumaru 3, Tenorio 1, Pessumal 0, Onwubere 0.
Rain or Shine 107 – Asistio 21, Caracut 16, Santillan 16, Mamuyac 16, Belga 9, Borboran 8, Norwood 5, Clarito 4, Datu 0, Demusis 0.
Quarterscores: 33-26, 58-52, 92-79, 113-107.
