BARAKO Bull stormed back from a 15-point fourth-quarter deficit behind import Mike Singletary and Danny Seigle to pull off a 98-97 win over Globalport in their PBA Governors Cup on Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Thoroughly outplayed for three quarters, Barako Bull stormed back behind Singletary and Seigle who combined for 24 points in the final quarter to sustain the team's brisk start in the season-ending conference.
“I have to admit that we were lucky today. Globalport was the better team for three quarters, but the fourth quarter, we started playing aggressive and we showed some kind of character in this big win,” said Barako Bull coaching consultant Rajko Toroman.
The win enabled the Energy Cola to move up to second place with idle Meralco on 4-2 win-loss cards while Globalport fell to 2-4 after squandering leads as big as 18 points.
Mark Macapagal’s wide-open triple from the corner off Singletary’s pass with under two minutes to play gave Barako Bull the lead for good, 96-94.
Globalport guard Sol Mercado’s split from the free-throw line was followed by Jay Washington’s wide-open undergoal stab before pint-sized guard Eman Monfort answered with two charities for Barako, 98-97.
After Barako Bull sued for a timeout, Singletary missed a three-point attempt as Globalport import Markeith Cummings grabbed the rebound with about four ticks left to play but the Batang Pier inexplicably failed to sue for time despite having one more timeout to call.
Cummings instead kicked the ball out to the speeding Mercado, who heaved a last-second three-point shot that kissed the glass before bouncing out of the ring, sealing the Batang Pier’s third straight loss.
The scores:
Barako 98 - Singletary 43, Macapagal 11, Seigle 10, Buenafe 9, Intal 7, Pennisi 5, Pena 5, Monfort 4, Cruz 2, Villanueva 2, Jensen 0, Weinstein 0, Gonzales 0.
GlobalPort 97 - Cummings 40, Mercado 16, David 11, Taha 10, Washington 9, Belencion 4, Miller 3, Mandani 2, Salvador 2, Hayes 0, Thiele 0.
Quarterscores: 23-27, 43-55, 68-83, 98-97
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