STEPHEN Holt and the rest of Barangay Ginebra welcomed Troy Rosario with a masterful 109-100 win over NLEX on Tuesday night in the PBA 49th Season Commissioner’s Cup at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
Holt caught fire from downtown in the third quarter to spark a Ginebra rampage that saw it outscore NLEX, 36-23, on the way to the win in the Kings' first game since Rosario came on board as an unrestricted free agent.
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NLEX saw a three-game winning streak snapped, going down to 3-2.
Rosario scored on a putback with 55.6 seconds remaining to put the finishing touches to the Ginebra victory, but later fouled out with eight seconds left for challenging a four-pointer by Robert Bolick.
But the star in the win was no doubt Holt, who scored 20 of his 26 points in the third-quarter breakaway. He also made five of his six three-point attempts.
Justin Brownlee, as expected, looked refreshed coming off a long break after a tiring stretch with both Ginebra in the PBA Governors' Cup Finals and Gilas Pilipinas in the Fiba Asia Cup qualifiers, finishing with 24 points and 12 rebounds.
Rosario had nine points and seven rebounds, although he only shot 4-for-11 from the field.
“We weren’t as tight as we would like to have been, but we had a good shooting night. That makes up a lot of execution mistakes when you can shoot the ball well,” said Ginebra coach Tim Cone, whose team shot 52.5 percent from the field.
Ginebra’s defense was also top notch with Robert Bolick earning every bit of his 18 points after shooting 4-for-12 from the field.
Michael Watkins had 27 points and 21 rebounds for NLEX, while Kevin Alas chipped in 14 for the Road Warriors.
The scores:
Barangay Ginebra 109 – Holt 26, Brownlee 24, J. Aguilar 15, Ahanmisi 13, Rosario 9, Thompson 8, Abarrientos 6, Cu 6, Adamos 2, Pinto 0.
NLEX 100 – Watkins 27, Bolick 18, Alas 14, Policarpio 13, Valdez 11, Torres 5, Semerad 4, Herndon 4, Rodger 2, Bahio 2, Mocon 0.
Quarters: 20-22, 42-43; 78-66; 109-100.
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