Scottie Thompson saved Ginebra from TNT, 87-83, for its third win in a row in the PBA Season 48 Philippine Cup, Friday night at the Philsports Arena.
The former league MVP knocked down the go-ahead triple for the 86-83 lead with 53.1 seconds left to play, and misses by the Tropang Giga coupled with a Japeth Aguilar split were all enough for the Kings to escape with the narrow win.
So badly needed was that trey as it enabled the crowd darlings to hack out the W after squandering a 21-point lead they built in the second period.
“We felt like we’re down by 20 at halftime because we blew a 20-point lead. In reality, it’s still a tie,” offered head coach Tim Cone post-game.
“So, we just had to take it possession by possession in the second half. And I thought our guys did a really good job of doing that,” he added.
Aguilar and Christian Standhardinger top-scored for Ginebra with 20 points apiece and combined for 25 of the Barangay’s 62 rebounds in the contest.
Thompson finished with 17 points, 10 rebounds, and six assists as the usual suspects stretched out their efforts to help the team pull through in their first game without Jamie Malonzo, who’s out for 6-8 weeks due to a calf injury.
Ginebra also received another solid outing from Ralph Cu, who delivered 12 points, spiked by a pair of treys, six rebounds, two assists, and a steal.
Significant as well was the contribution of Nards Pinto as he scored five of his seven points in the fourth to push their lead to 79-71 with 4:15 left.
“It was truly a team performance,” said Cone, whose team rose to third in the standings with a 6-3 record and could vie for a twice-to-beat quarters edge.
Calvin Oftana and Roger Pogoy, meanwhile, finished with 19 points apiece in the loss that snapped TNT’s two-game winning streak, dropping to 4-4.
The two co-produced the late-game rally along with Kelly Williams, with Oftana draining a big triple to tie the game at 83-all with 1:15 left.
That, however, would be their last points of the match as Pogoy, Castro, and Williams could no longer find the mark from deep.
The Scores:
Ginebra 87 – Standhardinger 20, J.Aguilar 20, Thompson 17, Cu 12, Pinto 7, Ahanmisi 6, Onwubere 3, Pringle 2, David 0, Tenorio 0.
TNT 83 – Pogoy 19, Oftana 19, B.Ganuelas-Rosser 12, K.Williams 10, Castro 9, Reyes 5, Montalbo 5, Galinato 4, Aurin 0, Ponferrada 0, Heruela 0, Khobuntin 0.
Quarterscores: 30-13, 41-41, 63-59, 87-83.
