March 4 ------ Ginebra cruised past Phoenix Super LPG, 109-89, to boost its Top Four bid in the PBA Governors’ Cup, Friday night at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
The Kings outscored their counterparts, 31-9, in the second period for a 59-30 halftime lead, and the match would never be in question as they went on to collect their sixth win of the conference to stay at no. 3 in the standings (6-2). “This is the middle game of a three-game set so we came in with the intention of more people, trying to get our guys a little bit more rest, and it just worked out that our guys really stepped up,” offered head coach Tim Cone.
Christian Standhardinger once again starred for the reigning champions with 28 points, 12 rebounds, and eight assists in 30 minutes. “He didn’t have the heavy minutes when Japeth was around and they were oftentimes splitting time together. So you’re not going to put up the big numbers when you’re splitting time with another player,” said Cone. “But with Japeth out, he’s getting heavier minutes and we have to go to him. He’s responding big, big time,” he furthered.
Justin Brownlee was far from the usual as he shot just 5-of-16 from the field, but still wound up with 18 points, 11 rebounds, and six assists. Scottie Thompson provided 16 points while Jamie Malonzo supplied 14 points, five rebounds, four assists, and a pair of blocks. Von Pessumal made his presence felt with 14 points off the bench in easily his best performance since joining the Barangay last conference. “I thought our guys coming off the bench did a great job. They made me look kind of silly because I haven’t been playing them and they came out and just were awesome,” lauded Cone as he got 31 points from his bench.
Du’Vaughn Maxwell, on the other hand, had 22 points and seven rebounds to lead Phoenix in the loss that snapped their three-game winning streak. Sean Manganti scored 15, while Javee Mocon added 11 for the Fuel Masters (4-6), who could’ve finalized the Final Eight had they won.
The Scores:
Ginebra 109 – Standhardinger 28, Brownlee 18, Thompson 16, Malonzo 14, Pessumal 14, Gray 11, Pringle 3, Onwubere 3, Pinto 2, Dillinger 0, Aguilar 0, David 0, Mariano 0.
Phoenix Super LPG 89 – Maxwell 22, Manganti 15, Mocon 11 Serrano 9, Tio 9, Garcia 6, Perkins 5, Muyang 4, Jazul 2, Camacho 2, Adamos 2, Alejandro 2, Go 0, Lalata 0, Lojera 0.
Quarterscores: 28-21, 59-30, 85-69, 109-89.
Source: tiebreakertimes.com
Editor's note:
In the first game, Meralco Bolts eked out a 132-129 OT win over Converge FiberXers in an emotionally-charged encounter. The Bolts almost suffered the ramifications of a heated altercation between Allein Maliksi and Barkley Ebona that saw the Maliksi choke Ebona as he clearly didn’t like the duty foul given up by the latter in the dying moments of the OT. He was assessed with an F2 infraction that led to an outright ejection while Ebona got called for an F1, Meralco was clinging to just a two-point lead, 130-128. Anjo Caram sank both of his free throws to make it a four-point spread. It marked the FiberXers’ end as Jeron Teng only split his foul shots, and Jerrick Balanza’s triple got blocked by KJ McDaniels as time expired. McDaniels finished with 33 points and 12 rebounds, while Aaron Black reset his career-high to 28 points alongside 8 boards and 5 assists, Cliff Hodge had 18 points, Raymond Almazan tallied a conference-high 16 points, while Bong Quinto made 12 markers to lead Meralco. Jamaal Franklin led Converge with 57 points, 14 rebounds, and 11 assists in likely the only 50-point triple-double in PBA history.
Over at the EASL, The Tropang Giga were overwhelmed by Korean Basketball League team Seoul SK in crunchtime, losing their final assignment in the 2023 East Asia Super League Champions Week, 69-80, at Nikkan Arena in Utsunomiya. Calvin Oftana paced the Tropang Giga with 16 points while Mikey Williams added 12 points and 4 assists. Daniel Ochefu hauled down 12 boards as well. San Miguel is the only remaining PBA team in the tournament. They fight for deal life against the other KBL representative in Anyang KGC today.
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