Ginebra booked its place in the PBA Season 49 Governors’ Cup quarterfinals by putting an end to the hopes of Phoenix, 112-96, for an impressive bounce-back victory as well on Wednesday night at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
That 49-point beatdown at the hands of San Miguel last Sunday still fresh in their minds, the Kings vented their frustrations on the Fuel Masters, jumping to a hot 18-5 start before breaking away for good in the second chapter.
Eventually, they’d hike their record to 6-3, sitting behind the Beermen and Rain or Shine — both of which tote 6-2 records — in the Group B standings.
“I don’t think I had to fire them very much because the game we came off against San Miguel,” said head coach Tim Cone of the 131-82 defeat to SMB, which was Ginebra’s worst loss in franchise history.
“We were all disappointed with that game–basically we’re ashamed of that game. So for us to come back, I think we were really motivated to come back and play a better game tonight,” the champion mentor added.
RJ Abarrientos led the way with a conference-high 24 points on 8-of-15 shooting from the field, five rebounds, and five assists off the bench.
Japeth Aguilar finished with 21 points, eight rebounds, and four assists. Scottie Thompson supplied 20 points, six rebounds, and the same number of assists as the locals enabled Justin Brownlee to no longer exert much effort again.
The three-time Best Import afforded to relax a bit but still did his part in the win with 13 points, five rebounds, nine assists, two steals, and a block.
“I was really pleased with the bounce-back tonight,” Cone said. “I was worried that might shake our confidence a little bit, but it didn’t.”
“Guys came out, I thought, really got back to basics, really started to do their thing and we got control of the game early and kept it the whole way.”
Now, the Barangay has their focus on Sunday’s game against DeQuan Jones and NLEX in an attempt to finish the group stage with another W.
Jason Perkins and Sean Manganti, on the other hand, had 18 points apiece to lead Phoenix, who couldn’t follow up its 119-114 win over Blackwater last Sunday, which was the team’s first this season after an 0-7 start.
Brandone Francis had 17 points and six rebounds while Kai Ballungay added 16 as the rook served as a bright spot in the double-digit loss, which was a bit far from their first-round encounter although they also lost that one, 110-101.
Now at 1-8, the Fuel Masters can only try to finish their conference strongly when they take on the Road Warriors as well on Friday.
The Scores:
Ginebra 112 – Abarrientos 24, J.Aguilar 21, Thompson 20, Brownlee 13, Ahanmisi 12, Holt 9, R.Aguilar 4, Mariano 3, Pessumal 3, Adamos 2, Garcia 1, Tenorio 0, Pinto 0.
Phoenix 96 – Perkins 18, Manganti 18, Francis 17, Ballungay 16, Tuffin 9, Tio 6, Verano 4, Muyang 3, Soyud 3, Salado 2, Alejandro 0, Rivero 0, Ular 0, Jazul 0, Daves 0, Garcia 0.
Quarterscores: 36-24, 61-45, 90-75, 112-96.
