April 23, 2017

Globalport scuttles Mahindra, 105-86

GLOBALPORT hardly felt the absence of Terrence Romeo Sunday.

Stanley Pringle and a bunch of other Batang Pier made sure the need to field the ailing star guard never entered coach Franz’s mind.

Pringle scored a gamehigh 24 points, leading GlobalPort to a cruising 105-86 victory over hapless Mahindra in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Malcolm White added 16 points and 17 rebounds while four other Batang Pier chipped in at least 10 points each in a show of balanced offensive might that netted them as much as a 31-point spread before eventually notching their second win in seven games.

GlobalPort remained one full game behind Phoenix for the eighth and last quarterfinals slot, but Pumaren maintains the big win should help his team achieve its immediate goal of making it past the 11-game eliminations.

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“Right now we cannot afford any mistakes,” said Pumaren after the match, held on the final playdate before the league takes a break for the All-Star Week starting Wednesday in Cagayan de Oro.

“We cannot depend on other teams beating other teams. We just have to continue playing good basketball. Hopefully we can get some wins,” added Pumaren. “The best outlook right now is to really concentrate on each game.”

Romeo was reportedly suffering from a bum stomach and Pumaren said it was too risky to use him when he’s not 100 percent. “He could play, but we don’t want to risk the career of Romeo,” explained the coach.

Mahindra clearly failed to capitalize on the absence of the flashy guard who averages 18.8 points and 5.6 assists an outing, and absorbed its fifth straight loss that dropped it to a 1-7 record overall.

Keith Wright put up 23 points and nine boards, Reden Celda heated up late for 18 points and Philip Paniamogan chipped in 14 points for Mahindra. But usual team stalwarts Alex Mallari and LA Revilla came up with performances way below expectations, combining for only two points on a total 1-for-13 clip.

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In contrast, Romeo’s absence was hardly felt when Von Pessumal scored 14 points, Mike Cortez 12, JR Quinahan 11 and Aaron Aban 10.

As a result, GlobalPort managed muster one surge after another from early in the second quarter on, leaving Mahindra completely wallowing in its wake, proof of which is a difference that stood as high as 92-61.

The Floodbuster were only in the game up to the 7:50 mark of the second quarter, when Jackson Corpuz’s basket brought the team within 30-34.

Then the Batang Pier went on a 15-6 roll, with Pringle and Papot Paredes leading the way with four points each, to go into the break with a 49-36 spread.

In that span Mahindra went 2-for-14 from the field and committed two turnovers to fall behind by as much as 31-47, through James Forrester’s alley-oop dunk off a feed by Cortez.

Poor field shooting continued to hound the Floodbuster in the third period, enabling the Batang Pier to stretch their lead to 78-53 going to the final 12 minutes.