BLACKWATER has been one of the earliest surprises in the PBA 50th Season Governors’ Cup, racking up two wins to grab a headstart in their group that head coach Pat Aquino considers as the toughest among the two.
The Bossing beat another traditional league contender in Magnolia, 89-81, on Friday, a follow-up to their 131-108 win over Rain or Shine, a team that just reached the semifinals last conference, to open the conference.
READ: Blackwater stays unbeaten, deals Magnolia a second straight loss
Blackwater is one win away from matching its 3-0 start in the 2024 Philippine Cup, one of the best in franchise history.
Head coach Pat Aquino said it is still too early to assess if Blackwater can make a deep run this conference after the excellent start, considering how tough, he believes, is their group.
But what Aquino vowed is to be a fighting team every game against the rest of Group B in Commissioner’s Cup champion Barangay Ginebra, Meralco, and Phoenix Super LPG.
“I think we are in the group of death,” Aquino said. “All tough teams. All champion teams.”
“I think it’s about time that we take a look at Blackwater. That’s our motto right now. We try to compete with all of them.”
Kentrell Barkley has been a big factor to Blackwater’s hot start. On Friday, Barkley had 26 points, 11 rebounds, and three blocks after registering a triple double of 29 points, 15 rebounds, and 10 assists.
The locals have also chipped in led by RK Ilagan, who has now averaged 21.5 points over the first two games after spending most of his time in the Commissioner’s Cup on the bench due to a hamstring injury.
Sedrick Barefield got off to a strong start to the conference in the Rain or Shine game when he had 24 points. Rookie Dalph Panopio is also steady to start the conference, averaging 14.5 points and 5.0 rebounds.
Aquino, who once handled the highly-successful Gilas Pilipinas Women program for more than a decade, also enters his first full conference with Blackwater after he took over the team in place of Jeff Cariaso midway in the Commissioner’s Cup.
With more time together, Aquino said the players have responded so far.
“Again, with the players buying in with what we are doing, I guess we start preparing well all the time. The thing is (I’m) just happy, laging masaya ako," Aquino said.
That fighting spirit was evident, according to Aquino, during the Magnolia game when the Hotshots seemed to have figured things out by taking an 81-79 lead with 3:53 left in the game.
Barkley and Ilagan carried the load by scoring the game’s last 10 points to overcome the Hotshots.
“Credit is due to the players, not me,” Aquino said as he deflected the credit. “They played until the end. That’s what we talked about, having to finish the game. I know I’ve said in the huddle, ‘no frustration.’ I know sometimes that we are not gonna get our shots, we are not gonna play good defense. But just continue playing, and I’m just happy with the way we played today.”
The next games will be the true test for Blackwater, with matches against Meralco on Tuesday and Barangay Ginebra on Sunday before wrapping up the round-robin against Phoenix Super LPG next week.
"‘Yung mga players ko, they are having fun. Let’s have fun and play as hard as we can,” Aquino said.
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