GLOBALPORT displayed its offensive might against the skidding Blackwater five, scoring an easy 120-105 win to snap a two-game skid in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup on Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Terrence Romeo led Batang Pier’s balanced attack with 26 points, as GlobalPort picked up a much-needed win to improve to 4-3 and get back on track for a quarterfinal seat.
Stanley Pringle added 17 points, six rebounds and six assists for Batang Pier, who led from the start to hand the Elite their fourth-straight loss and spoil the 31-point performance of Carlo Lastimosa.
“It’s a total team effort. We need to win at this point but we will take it one game at a time,” said GlobalPort mentor Pido Jarencio, who also drew a strong game from Doug Kramer who netted 16 points and 15 rebounds.
“This is a good preparation for us for our next game against Mahindra,” he added.
Joseph Yeo chipped in 14 points, while Rico Maierhofer had 12 points and nine rebounds for GlobalPort.
Blackwater, which dropped to 1-6 in the team standings, was able to keep pace in the first half behind the 23-point explosion of Lastimosa and trailed by just five, 59-64.
But Batang Pier regained the control of the game in the second half with Romeo and Kramer joining forces to erect a 106-91 lead with 7:40 remaining.
The Elite never had a serious run since then.
Rafi Reyes added 16 points for Blackwater, while JP Erram had a solid game for Head Coach Leo Isaac with nine points, 13 rebounds and six blocks.