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MANILA, Philippines – Japeth Aguilar saved the day for Ginebra, drilling the game-winning jumper to escape the Blackwater Bossing, 101-99, in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Philsports Arena in Pasig.
Aguilar knocked in a jumper with 1.8 seconds remaining in the game off an assist from Scottie Thompson as Ginebra avoided an extension period and spoiled the Bossing’s fourth-quarter surge.
Aguilar finished with 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field, and also collected 6 rebounds and 2 assists for Ginebra, which improved to 5-2 for a share of the third seed and inched closer to the quarterfinals.
Before Aguilar’s heroics, Blackwater’s Troy Mallilin drained a three-pointer to tie the game at 99-all with 19 ticks remaining in the game, only for it to be nullified by Ginebra’s veteran big, who got his opening off a defensive breakdown following a pick-and-roll play.
“Japeth has made so many big shots in his career. He hits another one… It was [also] a great pass from Scottie to make it happen,” Ginebra head coach Tim Cone said.
With the heartbreaking loss, Blackwater fell to 1-6, which put them on the brink of elimination.
In the game, the Bossing looked like a team fighting for their tournament lives as they kept in step with Ginebra for most of the second half, leaning heavily on Sedrick Barefield, Christian David, and RK Ilagan, only to squander their upset opportunity late.
Barefield led the way for Blackwater with 32 points, while Ilagan put up 24, 18 coming in the second half, to stay within striking distance of GInebra up until the final buzzer.
David also had 15 points for the Bossing, including three triples in the final quarter that helped Blackwater stay afloat when Ginebra tried to pull away in the dying minutes.
“We didn’t play particularly well. We allowed them to get a rhythm,” Cone said, ruing Ginebra’s defensive efforts against Blackwater’s Barefield, Ilagan and David.
“I’m very, very happy with the win, but I’m just not happy with the way we went about getting the win…We’ve got to play better than this on both sides of the ball as we finish off these eliminations,” he added.
Earlier, the NLEX Road Warriors zoomed to a share of the top spot in the All-Filipino Cup after escaping the Converge FiberXers, 88-83, for their sixth straight win.
Robert Bolick and Javee Mocon, two former San Beda Red Lions, took turns in salvaging the Road Warriors late as NLEX saw its 16-point lead shrink to three, 81-78, late in the fourth quarter.
Mocon drilled a jumper to create breathing room for NLEX, 83-78, before Bolick scored the next five points for the Road Warriors to pull away for good.
The win put the Road Warriors at 6-1 to tie league leader Magnolia Hotshots.
Bolick finished with a double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds, while Mocon added 10 markers.
Xyrus Torres continued his impressive tournament showing with 18 points for NLEX, built off 5 three-point makes.
Converge fell to a 5-4 record as Justine Baltazar’s 21-point, 10-rebound performance went to naught.
Alec Stockton and Schonny Winston added 17 and 16 points, respectively, for the FiberXers.
The Scores
First game
NLEX 88 – Bolick 19, Torres 18, Semerad 10, Mocon 10, Bahio 9, Ramirez 8, Fajardo 6, Alas 5, Herndon 3, Nieto 0.
Converge 83 – Baltazar 21, Stockton 17, Winston 16, Arana 12, Garcia 9, Delos Santos 3, Suerte 3, Corpuz 2, Racal 0, Nermal 0, Caralipio 0, R. Santos 0, B.Santos 0.
Quarters: 31-23, 52-42, 76-60, 88-83.
Second game
Ginebra 101 – J.Aguilar 22, Thompson 18, Rosario 18, Malonzo 15, Holt 13, Abarrientos 8, Adamos 4, David 3, Gray 0.
Blackwater 99 – Barefield 32, Ilagan 24, David 15, Mallilin 9, Escoto 8, Casio 3, Jopia 2, Guinto 2, Tratter 2, Chua 2, Andrade 0, Mitchell 0.
Quarters: 19-25, 46-43, 72-71, 101-99.
– Rappler.com
