Titleholder Barangay Ginebra came back a determined bunch from an opening-game letdown and smashed GlobalPort, 124-108, in the PBA Governors Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Sunday.
Beaten by the Meralco Bolts, 78-93, in a grudge match a week ago, the Kings vented their ire on the Batang Pier, putting up a fight anchored on their dreaded triangle offense that Stanley Pringle and his teammates couldn’t handle.
Obviously in utter frustration, Pringle and coach Franz Pumaren figured in an ugly verbal tussle during a timeout in the second quarter.
The Batang Pier patched things up in the second half, but still didn’t find a way to match up with the Kings who pulled away en route to their first win in the season-ending tourney.
The Kings dealt the Batang Pier severe beating in the second half and sent them reeling to a second loss in three starts.
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Ginebra coach Tim Cone said the long period after their loss to Meralco allowed them to figure the best way to beat GlobalPort.
“Frankly, I shouldn’t be here,” said Cone, his opening words in the post-game interview.
“After the first loss, I didn’t think we could figure quickly, but we had couples of days allowing us to revisit the triangle offense a little more,” Cone pointed out.
The Ginebra bench chieftain said the triangle opened opportunities for Greg Slaughter and Japeth Aguilar to score at the post.
Slaughter, Aguilar, Justin Brownlee, Joe Devance, Scottie Thompson and LA Tenorio had big games, making the Kings too tough for the Batang Pier.
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Having expressed his apologies, Pringle was sent back to the game in the 7:30 mark of the third with GlobalPort trailing 53-71.
But there’s no stopping the Kings who even stretched their lead to 25, 107-82, before breezing through to keep their mastery of the Batang Pier.
Ginebra swept GlobalPort in two games last conference, the last one marked by a fight between LA Tenorio and Terrence Romeo.
The Ginebra guard figured in another fierce shootout with his GlobalPort rival, with the former again having the last laugh in this match.
Tenorio fired away 5-of-7 three-pointers and led the Kings with 29 points while Romeo had 25 points for the Batang Pier.
Brownlee came up with 21 points and 12 rebounds, and was acknowledged by Cone for his defense on Romeo.
“He did a great job on Romeo and that’s a key,” said Cone.
Slaughter piled up 19 points and eight rebounds while Aguilar contributed 10 boards and nine markers.
