CEBU, Philippines – The GlobalPort Batang Pier didn’t get much from their ‘three-headed monster’ but still had enough to put away expansion team Kia, 84-79, in PBA Philippine Cup action on Wednesday at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum.
With Alex Cabagnot sitting out the game and Terrence Romeo struggling with his shot, it fell on the third member of their star trio, No. 1 overall pick Stanley Pringle, to carry the team.
Pringle finished with 13 points, eight rebounds, six assists and three steals but luckily for him, he didn’t have to do it alone.
Ronjay Buenafe led the with 19 points, including four three-pointers, while rookie Anthony Semerad and Mark Isip added 12 and 10 markers, respectively.
Cabagnot was in street clothes for this game while Romeo finished with just two points on 1-for-12 shooting, including 0-for-7 from beyond the arc and 0-for-2 from the free throw line.
The Batang Pier, who improved to 2-2 for the season, had to come back from a double-digit halftime deficit before coming away with the victory.
Kia finished the second quarter with a flourish, outscoring GlobalPort, 14-3, over the last 4:34 of the first half.
They led 47-36 at the break behind a strong performance from Reil Cervantes, who scored 13 of his 15 points in the first half.
But GlobalPort came out of the dugout a different team. They scored the first eight points of the third quarter, with four different players – Mark Isip, Keith Jensen, Ronjay Buenafe and Yancy De Ocampo – contributing for the Batang Pier.
They would finally take the lead in the midst of a 9-0 run late in the third.
Buenafe knocked down a three-pointer to start the rally. He would take care of a free throw after Kia’s Rich Alvarez was whistled for a technical foul and Mark Isip would hit two more from the line.
Rookie John Pinto split from the line and De Ocampo scored in the post as the Bata’ng Pier pushed their lead up to five, 62-57, heading into the final minute of the quarter.
But Chito Jaime and Cervantes quickly scored a pair of baskets in succession as the Sorento cut the lead down to one, 62-61, with one quarter left to play.
Kia was able to tie the game at 69-apiece on a basket from Alvin Padilla at 6:32 mark of the fourth.
But Pinto knocked down a big three-pointer, Pringle set up De Ocampo on a pick-and-roll and Semerad took care of two free throws as GlobalPort scored seven unanswered points to take a 76-69 lead.
Bogart Raymundo scored all five of his team’s points as they got to as close as four, 78-74.
But Pringle sealed the game with four straight free throws that gave GlobalPort an eight-point lead, 84-76, with just 15 seconds left on the clock.
Hans Thiele finished with 19 points for Kia, which fell to 1-3. —InterAKTV.com (FREEMAN)