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| With Ginebra looking for an answer to Junemar Fajardo's expected domination inside with Greg Slaughter still out with an injury, Coach Tim Cone found Prince Caperal. Dennis Jerome Acosta |
PASAY--With Ginebra looking for an answer to Junemar Fajardo's expected domination inside with Greg Slaughter still out with an injury, Coach Tim Cone went too deep into his bench.
He found Prince Caperal.
While Fajardo is still providing "Kraken-like" statlines throughout the PBA Philippine Cup semifinals, Caperal is holding his own as well.
Now, from a seldom-used 2014 second round pick that bounced through four franchises, Prince may have already found a home with the Kings.
"The confidence I'm getting, andoon na, parang umaakyat na," said the six-foot-seven center.
Two nights after exploding for a career-high 26 points, Caperal played pretty well again for Ginebra, making 12 points with the first four points for the team coming from him alongside four rebounds, and one assist.
However, Caperal, who has a decent stroke from the outside, nailed both his three-point attempts, including a tough trey from top of the key with 5:39 remaining and the shotclock winding down that helped the Barangay keep the Beermen at bay for the meantime.
"Paubos na ang shotclock eh. Ititira ko talaga yun. Luckily, pumasok. Big shot yun," he said of his last three-pointer. "It feels good na crucial at nataon na pumasok."
Eventually, Ginebra won over San Miguel in Game 3, and for Caperal, it is a sigh of relief that his performance was not put into waste this time.
"Last game, mixed emotions. Career-high pero yun nga lang, talo. This game, it feels good na nanalo rin kami," he reacted on the win. "Sana lang magtuluy-tuloy pa ang nilalaro ng team para tuluy-tuloy yung panalo namin hanggang sa championship."
But he insisted, "Nothing special naman. Nilaro ko lang yung dapat kong ilaro."
Follow him on Twitter: @IvanSaldajeno
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