Quickly arming themselves with a one-sided opening frame, the GlobalPort Batang Pier continued the struggles of the Star Hotshots in a 91-84 coasting at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Friday evening.
The wire-to-wire win started with GlobalPort surging ahead during the first quarter, led by the offensive brilliance of Stanley Pringle. Batang Pier led by 21 at the end of the opening twelve minutes, which also stood as the game’s biggest deficit.
Pringle ended the game with a game-high 24 points on 10-for-15 shooting, to go along with three rebounds and only one turnover in 38 minutes of play. After the match, he pointed out that the team had been feeling good in shoot-around, which he felt was the key for their fast start and energetic pace throughout the game.
“During our warm-ups, everybody was ready to go,” claimed the 29-year-old guard. “I feel like all our players complement each other, somebody can knock down the three, somebody can play defense, and somebody can drive.”
The Batang Pier are now tied with Rain or Shine at the top of the standings with two straight wins to open the season. However, Coach Franz Pumaren pointed out that the team will only be facing the real challenges once they are matched with the top-tier squads in the league.
“Everybody’s embracing their respective roles. It’s an early gauge right now and the real test will be on the upcoming games. This is still a good springboard for us,” said Pumaren.
“Slowly they’re getting and embracing what we’re trying to do right now.”
On the other hand, Star won the scoring joust in the last three quarters, but were not close enough to mount a comeback and make the game a tightly-contested one. The Hotshots used their guard-laden crew in the second half, in which they were able to melt the lead down single digits.
Unfortunately, the lead was insurmountable, as GlobalPort were able to counter and stop mini-runs by Star with transition buckets down the stretch.
Jio Jalalon, Aldrech Ramos, and Marc Pingris all tallied double figures for the Hotshots, but their team as a whole gave up a 15-to-1 edge in fastbreak points and let GlobalPort shoot a decent 48 percent clip for the entire match.
The fast attack of GlobalPort led to more points off turnovers on their end, 25-16, despite the team committing more miscues, 21-17. Terrence Romeo chipped in 18 points and eight assists, and accounted for seven of Batang Pier’s turnovers in the win.
GlobalPort (2-0) look to get their solid start going against the Alaska Aces (0-1), while Star (0-2) continue to look for their first win against the NLEX Road Warriors (1-0). These games will be played on December 7 at 4:15pm and 7:00pm respectively at the Big Dome.
The Scores:
GlobalPort (91) – Pringle 24, Romeo 18, Canaleta 12, Mamaril 8, Pennisi 8, Quinahan 6, Aban 6, Cortez 4, Pessumal 3, Semerad 2, Maierhofer 0, Dehesa 0.
Star (84) – Pingris 19, Ramos 18, Jalalon 13, Lee 9, Simon 8, Barroca 6, Brondial 3, Melton 3, Reavis 3, Maliksi 2, Sangalang 0.
Quarterscores: 29-8, 47-32, 67-58, 91-84
