Ginebra warms up for playoffs by keeping Wright-less Phoenix at bay

July 22 ------ BARANGAY Ginebra capped the eliminations with back-to-back victories as it defeated Phoenix Super LPG, 100-93, on Thursday in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.

The Gin Kings romped to their eighth win at the close of the eliminations as they entered the quarterfinals on a high note after a stretch where they lost two in a row without head coach Tim Cone due to his gig in the Miami Heat NBA Summer League. Ginebra will now wait as its quarterfinal opponent will be determined after the matches on the final day of eliminations on Friday. Phoenix closed the conference with a 3-8 win-loss card as it played minus Matthew Wright, who is now in the United States to prepare for his wedding.

Japeth Aguilar showed no signs of dengue as he poured 17 points including an alley-oop dunk from Stanley Pringle that enabled Ginebra to reach the century mark. Scottie Thompson had 14 points and 14 rebounds, while Aljon Mariano added 13 points for Ginebra, which also went deep into its bench as part of the preparations for the playoffs. “It’s an eliminations-long process for us. We always think the eliminations as being our preparation for the playoffs. Every game we play is hopefully, some kind of preparation for us. Today was especially important because this is the one before we actually go. So, we want to play at a high-level,” said Cone.

The scores:

Barangay Ginebra 100 – J. Aguilar 17, Thompson 14, Mariano 13, Pringle 10, Pinto 10, Chan 9, Standhardinger 8, Onwubere 7, Tenorio 4, Caperal 4, David 4.

Phoenix Super LPG 93 – Perkins 17, Anthony 16, Tio 13, Muyang 12, Serrano 7, Melecio 6, Garcia 5, Jazul 5, Porter 5, Lalata 3, Rios 2, Robles 2.

Quarters: 22-14; 47-45; 76-66; 100-93

Source: spin.ph