BARANGAY Ginebra gained a share of the lead in the PBA Philippine Cup standings after a 112-100 win over NorthPort on Wednesday night at the Angeles University Foundation Sports Arena and Cultural Center.
The Gin Kings became the first team to win in back-to-back days in the adjusted PBA bubble schedule as they claimed their sixth win in eight outings.
Ginebra is now tied for first place with TNT ahead of the two teams' marquee match-up on Friday at the Smart Giga Clark City bubble.
Stanley Pringle once again led Ginebra in scoring with 17 points and got some help as six other players scored in double figures.
Still fresh from a grueling victory over Alaska on Tuesday, the Gin Kings trailed, 23-13, in the first quarter but went on a 20-4 windup to the second period for a 57-48 lead at the halftime break.
Ginebra opened the final quarter with a 9-0 run for a 93-75 lead, enough gap for the Gin Kings to pick up the victory.
Ginebra coach Tim Cone said fatigue was natural playing in back-to-back games.
“It still showed that we were playing back-to-back,” said Cone. “We really had a tough game against Alaska last night, our guys got extended minutes, Stanley, LA (Tenorio), and Scottie (Thompson) all played 40 minutes.”
“Tonight wasn’t our finest hour. We weren’t clean tonight, we weren’t sharp tonight. I’m really proud of our guys for the effort they gave tonight. They didn’t get frustrated and they showed a lot of character tonight,” said Cone.
Aljon Mariano added 15 points, five rebounds, and seven assists for Barangay Ginebra, which also got 13 points and eight rebounds from Japeth Aguilar and 13 points and seven assists from LA Tenorio.
Christian Standhardinger scored 23 points for NorthPort - an output matched by Kevin Ferrer who hit seven treys that kept NorthPort in touch with Ginebra.
Garvo Lanete scored 19 points, and rookie Renzo Subido had 15 points in his best game thus far in his young PBA career.
NorthPort fell to 1-6 and needs to sweep its last four games to have a shot at a playoff berth.
The scores:
Barangay Ginebra 112 – Pringle 17, Mariano 15, Tenorio 13, J. Aguilar 13, Devance 12, Thompson 11, Caperal 11, Chan 10, Dillinger 5, Balanza 5, Tolentino 0, Caguioa 0.
NorthPort 100 – Standhardinger 23, Ferrer 23, Lanete 19, Subido 15, Taha 9, Nabong 5, Cruz 4, Manganti 2, Elorde 0, Revilla 0.
Quarters: 23-29; 57-48; 84-75; 112-100.
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