BADLY in need of a victory that will put its bid back on track, GlobalPort flexed its muscles from start to finish to steamroll Blackwater, 120-105, and snap a two-game losing streak in the 2015 Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Sunday.
The 1-2 backcourt punch of stars Terrence Romeo and Stanley Pringle struck again and resumed their scoring ways as their high-octane offense once again showed the way for the Batang Pier.
Romeo was sensational all game with his game-high 26 points to go with six rebounds, while Pringle added 17 markers.
Though heading in fresh from a two-game slide, the Batang Pier came out with a lot of aggression to seize control of the contest and never look back.
GlobalPort started out firing and took an immediate 36-27 lead at the end of one. From that point forward, the Batang Pier held on until the final buzzer and shut down all threats that Blackwater presented.
‘’It was a total team effort. Our record was even, so we really needed to win this game,’’ said GlobalPort coach Pido Jarencio. ‘’Our players played really well.’’
Romeo and Pringle got plenty of help from Doug Kramer (15 points), Joseph Yeo (14) and Rico Maierhofer (13).
After the high-scoring first half, the Batang Pier were ahead by 15 at 69-54 and took good care of their lead the rest of the way.
The win pushed the Batang Pier in a three-way tie for fifth place with Barangay Ginebra and NLEX on similar 4-3 records.
The woeful Elite lost their fourth straight and slipped further to 1-6 at 11th place. Blackwater now needs to win all of its four remaining games to have a good shot at making it to next round.
The Batang Pier withstood a career-game from Carlo Lastimosa, who led Blackwater and all scorers as well with his game-high 31 points, 21 of which came in the first half.
However, that wasn’t nearly enough for the Elite as they continued their slump.
The largest lead of the Batang Pier stood at 17 points, 120-103, just before the final tally was settled.
The scores:
Globalport 120 — Romeo 26, Pringle 17, Kramer 15, Yeo 14, Maierhofer 13, Washington 8, Jensen 6, Semerad 5, Sumang 5, Paniamogan 3, Taha 2, Uyloan 0.
Games Wednesday
(Smart Araneta Coliseum)
4:15 p.m. – GlobalPort vs. NLEX
7 p.m. – Mahindra vs. San Miguel