JAVI Gomez De Liano clinched his first career win over Barangay Ginebra Sunday night, a small victory for a player the Kings once drafted but never got to play.
The sophomore wingman scored a conference-high 22 points in Terrafirma’s 91-85 upset of the PBA’s most popular ballclub as the Dyip continue to make strides in their bid to make the playoffs of the Philippine Cup.
De Liano of course, was a first round pick by Ginebra during the Season 47 draft, but was traded to the KIA franchise a few days later for no.2 pick Jeremiah Gray.
But while he savored the big win that raised Terrafirma’s record to 4-3 overall, the former University of the Philippines stalwart said there was nothing personal for him beating the Kings for the first time in four meetings.
“Wala naman. To be honest, I already moved from it since last year,” said the 25-year-old forward about the win.
“Of course, I don’t know why I was traded, but I shifted my focus right away on how I can help Terrafirma once I started training with them from Day 1.”
Photo: Inah Sabido
At the same time, De Liano emphasized everything was a team effort as he had a lot of help coming from main man Juami Tiongson, who had 25 points on 3-of-5 shooting from beyond the arc, top rookie Stephen Holt’s all-around game of 12 points, 11 rebounds, and six assists, and another 12 points and five rebounds from rookie big man Keimark Carino.
The win was only the second for Terrafirma in 23 meetings with Barangay Ginebra, with the breakthrough coming during the 2021 Philippine Cup bubble in Bacolor, Pampanga.
It also propelled the Dyip to solo fourth behind Northport (4-1), NLEX (5-0), and leader San Miguel Beer (4-0).
And seeing his team up there in the running for a playoff berth is more than enough satisfaction for De Liano, whether it's Ginebra or any other team the Dyip have beaten.
“That has always been my goal, how to help the team,” he said. “So I don’t see this team (Ginebra) any different from the others. They’re all the same.”
Terrafirma’s next game will be on Wednesday against the undefeated Beermen also at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
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