Ginebra cruised past Phoenix Super LPG, 109-89, to boost its Top Four bid in the PBA Governors’ Cup, Friday night at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
The Kings outscored their counterparts, 31-9, in the second period for a 59-30 halftime lead, and the match would never be in question as they went on to collect their sixth win of the conference to stay at no. 3 in the standings (6-2).
“This is the middle game of a three-game set so we came in with the intention of more people, trying to get our guys a little bit more rest, and it just worked out that our guys really stepped up,” offered head coach Tim Cone.
Christian Standhardinger once again starred for the reigning champions with 28 points, 12 rebounds, and eight assists in 30 minutes.
“He didn’t have the heavy minutes when Japeth was around and they were oftentimes splitting time together. So you’re not going to put up the big numbers when you’re splitting time with another player,” said Cone.
“But with Japeth out, he’s getting heavier minutes and we have to go to him. He’s responding big, big time,” he furthered.
Justin Brownlee was far from the usual as he shot just 5-of-16 from the field, but still wound up with 18 points, 11 rebounds, and six assists.
Scottie Thompson provided 16 points while Jamie Malonzo supplied 14 points, five rebounds, four assists, and a pair of blocks.
Von Pessumal made his presence felt with 14 points off the bench in easily his best performance since joining the Barangay last conference.
“I thought our guys coming off the bench did a great job. They made me look kind of silly because I haven’t been playing them and they came out and just were awesome,” lauded Cone as he got 31 points from his bench.
Du’Vaughn Maxwell, on the other hand, had 22 points and seven rebounds to lead Phoenix in the loss that snapped their three-game winning streak.
Sean Manganti scored 15, while Javee Mocon added 11 for the Fuel Masters (4-6), who could’ve finalized the Final Eight had they won.
The Scores:
Ginebra 109 – Standhardinger 28, Brownlee 18, Thompson 16, Malonzo 14, Pessumal 14, Gray 11, Pringle 3, Onwubere 3, Pinto 2, Dillinger 0, Aguilar 0, David 0, Mariano 0.
Phoenix Super LPG 89 – Maxwell 22, Manganti 15, Mocon 11 Serrano 9, Tio 9, Garcia 6, Perkins 5, Muyang 4, Jazul 2, Camacho 2, Adamos 2, Alejandro 2, Go 0, Lalata 0, Lojera 0.
Quarterscores: 28-21, 59-30, 85-69, 109-89.
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The second game of each PBA gameday is live-streamed on SMART Sports.
