Pandas come alive

MANILA, Philippines — This felt like déjà vu.

Just as it extracted its very first win in the PBA from Titan Ultra back in the Commissioner’s Cup after a long losing start, guest team Macau broke through in the Governors’ Cup at the Giant Risers’ expense.

Heartbroken in their first four games, the Giant Pandas exerted supreme effort to finally end their misery. They were down by as many as 19 points but didn’t lose heart and fought harder and harder to get a 132-126 reward in this competitive duel of cellar dwellers in Group A last night at Ynares Center-Antipolo.

The W brought back memories of their maiden faceoff in the previous conference, where Macau barged into the win column after a woeful 0-7 opening with a 119-107 verdict over Titan.

With this “repeat,” the charges of coach Marcus Elliot matched the Giant Risers’ record at 1-4, bumping off their victims at sixth spot in the seven-team bracket.

“It definitely feels good and (shows) we’re heading in the right direction,” said Ramon Cao, who banged in 28 points and 13 rebounds to back up De’Vondre Perry’s game-high 32-22 performance.

Elliot said the Giant Pandas kept the faith despite the early losses, noting how they nearly pulled it off against defending champion TNT in a 103-106 loss and competed for the most part against San Miguel Beer and Converge despite lopsided defeats.

“Our scores showed we got better and better by each game and we still feel like we’re in a position to win,” said Elliot.

“We’re able to piece it together today,” he added.

It didn’t appear like that early on, though.

The Giant Risers, fresh from their 103-87 upset of the Tropang 5G, came out firing and buried the Giant Pandas to a 30-11 hole.

Titan held a 16-point tear at the break but a lashing from Elliot at the dugout fired up Macau. With a 44-27 salvo in the third, the Giant Pandas wrested the lead, 95-94. Then Cao and comebacking gunner Jenning Leung spearheaded their fourth-quarter closeout, combining for 29 to bring the team to the finish line.