After numerous missed opportunities, Phoenix finally soar into the next round.
The Phoenix Fuel Masters took advantage of a depleted Barangay Ginebra San Miguel to carve out a 79-73 win in the 2017 PBA Philippine Cup, Sunday night at the Philsports Arena in Pasig.
Phoenix’s victory, which improves their record to 6-4, have assured them of a spot into the playoffs. Meanwhile, the Barangay, who played without top big man Japeth Aguilar due to a hyper-extended elbow, dropped to an even 5-5 card and dropped to the seventh spot along with Blackwater in the standings.
“I just told them that we need to make the quarters. Nothing to celebrate but we can still end up at the bottom. Now, we want a shot at three or four,” said Phoenix head coach Ariel Vanguardia.
Four Fuel Masters scored in double figures to lead Phoenix in the playoff-clinching win. Matthew Wright finished with a game-high 18 points on 7-of-17 from the field to go along with five rebounds and five assists. Forwards JC Intal and Willie Wilson each produced double-doubles for Phoenix; Intal had 16 and 10, while Wilson had 10 markers on 4-of-7 shooting and grabbed 12 boards. Simon Enciso supplied 11, highlighted by three triples.
“John Wilson is playing with fever. JC also played well,” said Vanguardua of the outputs he received from the aforementioned players.
The Fuel Masters were up 11, 69-58, with 7:44 left in the final quarter, but Ginebra chipped down the deficit to just six, 73-67, behind Mark Caguioa, Sol Mercado, Scottie Thompson and Joe DeVance with 3:10 to go.
The Barangay tried to spark a run in the closing minutes, but Phoenix were too much to handle, as Wright and Intal nailed back-to-back three-pointers to establish a ten-point lead, 79-69, and pull away from Ginebra for good.
“We played percentage basketball. This conference they are struggling from three-points so we packed the paint. We were trying to give them contested jumpers,” Vanguardia added.
LA Tenorio and Mark Caguiao led Ginebra with 15 points each. Thompson, who had 15 rebounds last game, only finished with 10 markers and eight boards.
Phoenix shot the ball decently, shooting 30 of their 73 attempts on their way to a 41 percent clip — with most of those shots coming off the 17 assists they had. And in terms of rebounds, however, they barely out-rebounded Ginebra, 47-45.
The Barangay shot poorly, hitting just 28 of 78 from the floor to finish with a 35 percent clip. However, they shot better from the foul line, hitting 15 of 20, a far cry from Phoenix’s 9 of 15 from the stripe.
Phoenix will take on Alaska this Friday, January 27, at 7:00 PM, while Ginebra’s next match will be against NLEX next Sunday, January 29, at 6:45 PM. Both games will be played at the Cuneta Astrodome.
The Scores:
Phoenix (79) – Wright 18, Intal 16, Enciso 11, W. Wilson 10, J. wilson 8, Lanete 5, Torres 5, Baguio 3, Borboran 2, Miranda 1, Caperal 0, Alolino 0.
Ginebra (73) – Tenorio 15, Caguioa 15, Thompson 10, Marcelo 10, Devance 8, Ferrer 7, Mercado 3, Cruz 3, Ellis 2, Taha 0, Helterbrand 0.
Quarterscores: 17-10, 38-26, 57-47, 79-73.
