Jay R. Gotera
Saudi Gazette
MANILA — LA Tenorio nailed a three-pointer with .02 ticks left in overtime as the Barangay Ginebra Kings bundled out the Star Hotshots, 92-89, in a thrilling down-the-wire grudge match Friday night in the first round of the PBA Philippine Cup quarterfinals.
The fourth-seeded Kings thus arranged a knockout match against the GlobalPort Batang Pier Sunday, with the winner advancing to a best-of-seven semifinals duel against the Alaska Aces.
Sol Mercado played his best game yet for Ginebra, finishing with a team-high 17 points, six of them in the overtime period. He also collected six boards and five assists.
This time, Greg Slaughter was not as dominating as he did in previous games, finishing with just 12 points and four rebounds.
Ginebra evenly shared the scoring load with eight Kings finishing with at least nine points. Tenorio posted 11 markers, six of them in OT, while Mark Caguioa and Joe Devance added 10 apiece. Rookie Scottie Thompson, Japeth Aguilar and Chris Ellis scored nine points apiece. Aguilar also had a team-high 14 rebounds while Ellis grabbed eight boards.
Thompson earlier forced overtime with a jump shot with .03 seconds left in regulation time.
Peter June Simon led the Hotshots with 17 points. Ian Sangalang scored 13 while Mark Barroca and James Yap chipped in 11 and 10, respectively.
GlobalPort 94, Barako Bull 85
GlobalPort’s double-barrelled scoring threats Terrence Romeo and Stanley Pringle delivered the knockout blows on Barako Bull, 94-85, to advance to the next round of the quarterfinals.
Romeo sizzled for 33 points, 28 of them in the second half, while Pringle added 15 markers and 13 rebounds to lead the Batang Pier to their first playoffs win in franchise history. GlobalPort carried a twice-to-beat advantage as the fifth seed after the elimination round. The eighth-seeded Barako Bull thus crashed out of the conference.
The Batang Pier started slow allowing the Energy to take the lead for most parts of the first half.
But when Romeo started shooting the lights out of the Mall of Asia Arena, GlobalPort turned the game around, reversing a 41-48 deficit into a 54-49 advantage.
Barako Bull tried to keep within striking distance in the final quarter, but once again Romeo caught fire to finally shoved the Energy out of the way.
Willy Wilson led Barako Bull with a double-double of 15 points and 15 rebounds. Eman Monfort and Josh Urbiztondo added 12 points apiece while JC Intal chipped in 11 markers.
Games Saturday (quarterfinals): Rain or Shine Elasto Painters (twice-to-beat advantage) vs. Blackwater Elite and Talk N Text Tropang Texters (twice-to-beat advantage) vs. NLEX Road Warriors.
