JAPETH Aguilar provided the fitting highlight to Gilas Pilipinas’ 92-83 win over the Adelaide 36ers on Friday night by posterizing Eric Griffin with a powerful two-handed slam in the waning seconds of the friendly at the Meralco gym.
But in doing so, the athletic Barangay Ginebra big man also ended up with a bloody nose.
Aguilar apparently was hit by the 29-year-old Griffin as he dunked his way against him that blood freely flowed from his nose shortly after.
The Gilas forward was seen shouting and mocking Griffin following the dunk, his way of getting even following the accidental hit against him.
“It wasn’t on purpose,” said Gilas Pilipinas team manager Gabby Cui of the incident. “But the refs should have called a foul.”
Just before Aguilar’s emphatic slam with 34 seconds left, Griffin also soared high for a one-handed dunk against Andray Blatche that stopped the bleeding for the 36ers, who were outscored by the Filipinos, 10-0, heading home.
The four-time National Basketball League (NBL) champion was ahead, 81-80, before Gilas went on a late scoring frenzy behind Roger Pogoy and CJ Perez.
Aguilar finished with 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting and had four rebounds to complement the near triple-double of naturalized player Andray Blatche (19 points, 18 rebounds, nine assists).
Griffin, a former NBA D-League All-Star and All-Defensive second team, had nine points and five rebounds for the 36ers.
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