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| PBA |
By Ivan Saldajeno
QUEZON CITY--Terrence Romeo may have struggled all Saturday long from beyond the arc.
But his only made trey had the biggest impact.
Romeo scored a triple and a fastbreak layup in just 26 seconds to give GlobalPort a 118-116 come-from-behind overtime win against Mahindra in their PBA Philippine Cup meeting at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Romeo, who missed his first 12 three-pointers, drained the equalizer from downtown with 29.8 seconds left in the overtime period.
He then grabbed the rebound off a Karl Dehesa miss and drove past Mike DiGregorio for the go-ahead finish with 3.3 ticks remaining.
Romeo's five-point spark capped the game-ending 8-1 run by the Batang Pier to steal the win from the Enforcers, who had a chance in regulation.
After an exchange of baskets late in the fourth quarter, Mahindra had an opportunity to take the victory as Romeo and Stanley Pringle misfired in their attempts.
Bradwyn Guinto, however, only made one of two free throws after a foul, putting his team ahead by just two, 103-101, with 10.7 seconds left in regulation.
Pringle forced the extension by scoring on a buzzer-beating step-back jumper.
The Enforcers then held a 115-110 advantage with exactly a minute left in overtime.
But a triple from Jay Washington cut the lead to two, 115-113, with 48.1 seconds left in the five-minute bonus.
Kyle Pascual only stretched Mahindra's lead to three, 116-113, after splitting his own charities, and then Romeo delivered the winning baskets for GlobalPort, which moved up to 7-3 and nailed at least a twice-to-beat advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
Romeo and Pringle finished with 29 points each for the Batang Pier while flirting with a triple-double. Romeo actually had a double-double as he also tallied ten rebounds while dishing eight assists, while Pringle had eight boards and seven dimes of his own.
Box Scores:
GlobalPort 118–Pringle 29, Romeo 29, Mamaril 12, Washington 12, Yeo 11, Kramer 10, Semerad 7, Maierhofer 6, Uyloan 2, Pena 0, Sumang 0
Mahindra 116–Ramos 24, Dehesa 23, DiGregorio 19, Yee 14, Guinto 11, Pascual 9, Canaleta 6, Laure 5, Pinto 4, Bagatsing 1, Hubalde 0
Quarterscores: 23-22, 44-49, 79-72, 103-103, 118-116
Follow him on Twitter: @IvanSaldajeno
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