 |
| Tony Bishop paced Ginebra anew against gritty Rain Or Shine. PBA Images |
MANILA—Ginebra bounced back from its huge endgame collapse against Magnolia by holding off Rain Or Shine, 107-102, in their PBA Commissioner's Cup game on Friday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.
Nearly a week after blowing a 26-point lead against the Hotshots, the Gin Kings had to deal with Andrei Caracut's career game, especially that he had timely hits to keep the Elasto Painters in the game.
After Scottie Thompson's follow-up to put Ginebra up by four, Caracut hit a long three to cut the lead down to one, 95-94, with 3:40 left.
Just when the Gin Kings were about to pull away with five straight points, Caracut made two free throws and assisted on Santi Santillan's three for the Elasto Painters' own 5-0 mini run to bring the gap to just one again, 100-99, with 1:06 left.
Maverick Ahanmisi hit a huge three and Christian Standhardinger tallied an elbow jumper to put Ginebra back by six again, 105-99, but Caracut did not give up and made another triple to cut the lead down to three, 105-102, with 23.6 seconds left.
Dajuan Summers then snatched the ball from Tony Bishop off a double team and found Gabe Norwood open inside for a chance to trim the lead further, but Norwood opted for a stepback jumper that he airballed and Ahanmisi found Standhardinger open for the dagger layup.
Bishop led the Gin Kings, now at 2-1, with 25 points, 12 rebounds, four assists, and two steals, while Ahanmisi added 21 points, 12 rebounds, nine assists, and one steal.
Standhardinger finished with 19 points, 11 rebounds, five assists, and two steals, while Thompson put up 12 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists, and one block.
Caracut ended up with 32 points on 11-of-17 from the field including 4-of-6 on threes, two rebounds, and five assists, while Summers added 25 points, 12 rebounds, one block, and two steals for ROS, which fell to the bottom of the team standings at 0-4.
Follow him on X: @IvanSaldajeno
.jpg)
