Terrafirma pulled away in the fourth quarter and dealt a depleted Macau a 102-84 beating to keep its quarterfinal hopes alive in the PBA Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium on Saturday evening.
The game was tied at 77-all entering the final period until rookie Geo Chiu led a quick 9-0 run for an 86-77 lead with 9:33 to go, and that proved enough for the Dyip to seize control the rest of the way toward snapping a six-game losing skid.
Coach Ronald Tubid and his charges would net their fourth win, tying Converge at the ninth spot of the team standings as they now tote similar 4-6 records.
(C) PBA Images
And they did it against a team that lost one of its top players in Damian Chongqui, who stormed out of the venue in the middle of the bout.
That left head coach Marcus Elliott with no choice but to utilize the seldom-used locals, but the remaining players could only do so much as they scored just seven in the deciding period and eventually fell to their ninth defeat.
“So stay lang kami doon sa concept na gusto ng sistema namin, especially sa offense namin. Kasi ‘yung defense namin, okay naman,” Tubid said.
Jerrick Ahanmisi led Terrafirma with 29 points and eight assists. Mubashar Ali backed him up with 24 points, 16 rebounds, and five assists.
Chiu tallied his first PBA double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds, with JM Bravo chipping in 12 also as the quartet bannered the assault.
“We talked about it since the beginning of the season, that our goal is to make the playoffs,” said the younger Ahanmisi. “So getting this W means our hopes are alive, and hopefully our team believes that we can still make it.”
The Dyip will look to bolster their playoff chances by trying to sweep perennial contenders San Miguel Beer on May 6 and Meralco on May 8.
(C) PBA Images
Veteran Ramon Cao, on the other hand, led Macau with 27 points, spiked by a 3-of-4 clip from four, and seven rebounds in the defeat.
Tony Mitchell had 22 points and 12 rebounds. Phoenix Shackelford made 13 points and six rebounds while Jenning Leung added 10 markers.
The Black Knights will look to finish their maiden PBA campaign on a high note when they take on Phoenix on Wednesday, May 6, also at NAS.
The Scores:
Terrafirma 102 – J. Ahanmisi 29, Ali 24, Chiu 12, Bravo 12, Maverick Ahanmisi 9, Hernandez 5, Zaldivar 4, Catapusan 3, Umali 2, Garcia 2, Eriobu 0, Paraiso 0, Adamos 0.
Macau 84 – Cao 27, Mitchell 22, Shackelford 13, Leung 10, Chongqui 8, Zhu 2, Lu 2, Chen 0, Chao 0.
Quarterscores: 21-20, 54-53, 78-77, 102-84.
