RALPH Cu played a career game on Sunday to help power Barangay Ginebra to a 95-88 win over NorthPort in the PBA 48th Season Philippine Cup at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
Cu flirted with a triple double after finishing with 24 points, 10 rebounds, and nine assists, all his personal best in his young PBA career to lift Ginebra to its second straight victory.
The Kings improved to 5-3.
Cu, Ginebra’s second round pick in this season’s draft, made key plays down the stretch, draining a three-pointer with 2:56 left in the fourth to break an 85-85 tie. That started a 7-0 run capped by a Cu assist to Christian Standhardinger for a 92-85 lead.
Ginebra has now won 14 straight games against NorthPort, which fell to 5-2.
Ginebra’s win, however, was dampened after Jamie Malonzo suffered an injury in the final seconds of the match. Malonzo had to stay on the floor at the end of the game as he got checked by the Ginebra medical staff.
“We talked about having to grind out wins coming the rest of the way on the way to the playoffs,” said Barangay Ginebra coach Tim Cone. “I thought they did a good job grinding out.”
“We were down 10 at halftime and they came out and really got locked in defensively. We just had an unbelievable game by Ralph that kept us close,” said Cone.
Standhardinger continued his strong play since he was benched in the fourth quarter of their loss to Terrafirma last week as he had a team-high 25 points and 17 rebounds for Barangay Ginebra.
Malonzo had 14 points before going down with an injury, while Maverick Ahanmisi had 13 points for the Gin Kings.
Arvin Tolentino finished with 19 points for NorthPort, which led 53-43 at halftime only to be outscored, 30-17, in the third quarter.
The scores:
Barangay Ginebra 95 – Standhardinger 25, Cu 24, Malonzo 14, Ahanmisi 13, Thompson 10, J. Aguilar 4, David 3, Pringle 2, Tenorio 0, Onwubere 0, Pinto 0.
NorthPort 88 – Tolentino 19, Navarro 12, Munzon 12, Bulanadi 11, Yu 8, Amores 7, Zamar 6, Calma 4, Lucero 4, Cuntapay 3, Flores 2, Rosales 0, Paraiso 0.
Quarters: 30-21; 43-53; 73-70; 95-88.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
