Pringle saves day for limping GPort
Stanley Pringle continued to struggle with tightness in his leg but came through in the clutch as Global Port scored its first win in its post-Terrence Romeo era with an 86-85 nipping of Meralco in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum last night.
Making merely 1-of-8 from the field in the first three quarters, Pringle struck with 13 points in the payoff period, including three charities in the last 14.3 seconds as the Batang Pier bounced back from a conference losing debut versus Romeo and his new team TNT KaTropa Sunday.
“He’s bothered by a slight leg injury that’s why he’s not playing his usual game. Good thing, he picked up some rhythm in the fourth quarter,” said Global Port coach Pido Jarencio of Pringle.
“The whole team is also struggling as we still have to develop chemistry. But for as long as we play together and work together, I think we’ll be okay,” Jarencio added.
Jarencio noted improvement from their 0-2 start last conference. “That’s one positive thing for us,” he said.
It’s a morale-boosting triumph that the Batang Pier carved out minus Moala Tautuaa who served a suspension.
Malcolm White delivered 27 points and 17 rebounds, Sean Anthony contributed 15 markers and seven boards while Kelly Nabong chipped in 13 rebounds, six markers, three assists and three steals as they negated Niño Canaleta’s 28-point explosion marked by seven three-pointers.
Arinze Onuaku was the only other Meralco player who finished in double figures – 21 points – as the Bolts failed to sustain the momentum of their 116-103 drubbing of the Columbian Dyip side Wednesday.
“Meralco played well coming from a game just 48 hours ago. Their aggressiveness and good execution were there. They just missed a crucial shot and we got the rebound at endgame. Breaks of the game (went on our side),” said Jarencio.
Reggie Johnson churned out a huge 30-20 game in his PBA debut, and Beau Belga and Chris Tiu helped a lot in the crunch as Rain or Shine squeezed out a 109-103 win in overtime over a scrappy Alaska Milk team later in the night.
The bulky ROS reinforcement piled up double-double numbers right in the first half and finished with 32 markers and 22 rebounds.