And their victory over Petron Blaze on Sunday night gave the Tigers a much-needed confidence booster in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup.

Powerade avoided a three-game slump with a 108-94 win over Petron where Gary David sizzled for a career-high 42 points.

But more than David’s offensive exploits, the Tigers were poised to convince themselves that they could go far in the All-Filipino tournament and stay on course to achieving their goal.

“I made sure that the players understood that our goal is to be in the top 6. And to find that way, we have to beat Petron,” said Tigers head coach Bo Perasol.

“We’re going to be better. Of course, we’re going to experience pains together but we have players we wanted. We’re going to make sure that we’re a competitor in this league,” he added.

After a promising 2-1 start, the Tigers absorbed two straight losses against B-MEG (80-97) and Barangay Ginebra (72-73) despite the return of No. 1 overall pick Jayvee Casio in the lineup.

David was a huge letdown in their past two games, scoring just seven markers against the Llamados on three-of-13 shooting from the field then missed two crucial free throws in the dying seconds against the Kings.

But the former Lyceum standout rebounded with a career performance against the Boosters to lead his team back in the thick of the fight.

“I made sure he [David] understands that we’re going to be happy if he’s going to lead us to a win. If he misses, we’re still on his side,” said Perasol.

(Joel Orellana)