Sol Mercado has always been known for his take-charge mentality since starting his PBA career with Rain or Shine in 2008.
No wonder, the former Biola University standout came out with a fiery offensive effort on Sunday to anchor Barangay Ginebra’s clinic 91-67 demolition of Star to force a winner-take-all PBA Philippine Cup semfiinal before over 18,000 fans Sunday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Coming off a 9-point effort in Ginebra’s 89-80 loss to Star last Friday, the stocky guard was on target 2 days later, knocking down 12 of his 21 points in the final period.
Mercado’s effort mirrored Ginebra’s burning desire to finally make it back to the Philippine Cup Finals since winning ii all in the 2007 season.
Other than just scoring, Mercado was also one of Tim Cone’s top defensive players, having been one of the biggest reasons why Paul Lee has struggled as of late in the semifinal series.
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The six-foot Lee’s stats revealed a lot about Mercado’s ability to hound his man on the defensive end—with the former PBA Rookie of the Year shooting just 3-of-13 overall to finish with 8 points in another disappointing performance in Game 6.
The 32-year-old Mercado’s all-out effort earned him the Accel-PBA Press Corps Player of the Week award to beat teammate Japeth Aguilar, along with San Miguel guard Chris Ross and June Mar Fajardo for the citation for the period of February 13-19.
Ginebra hopes it could carry the momentum of its convincing win hen it engages Star in their winner-take-all match Tuesday at the Mall of Asia Arena. (RD)
