PBA: Japeth soars as GlobalPort escapes with win over Petron on opening day

Gary David tallied a game-high 28 points, adding five rebounds, three assists and two steals, while the team's other big-name offseason acquisition Sol Mercado added 17 points and 11 assists.

 

New GlobalPort head coach Junel Baculi took Aguilar's performance as a promising start. "Yung bata marami pang ipapakita; raw pa yung talent niya," he said. "Pero ang importante he has a fighting heart and wants to slug it out there." 

 

"He wants to prove something so that's good for the fans and our team," he added.

[Related: The return of the prodigal son, Japeth Aguilar, to the PBA]  

Justin Williams, Batang Pier's import, tallied 18 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks before his third quarter ejection.

 

Down by five, Gary David exploded with a four-point play to begin the final quarter, chipping in nine of GlobalPort's first 11 points. Coupled with a few offensive rebounds and defensive stops, Batang Pier went on a 17-10 blast to knot the game on a Sol Mercado trey, 81-all, with under seven minutes to play.

 

Chico Lanete took the reins for Petron, and he nailed a trey, en route to scoring five of their next seven. GlobalPort refused to back down as David and Aguilar countered with big shots of their own to keep step. Mercado then drained a pair of charities to give Batang Pier the lead, 90-88, with under three minutes remaining.

 

Arwind Santos was active underneath the basket and scored Petron's next four. However GlobalPort continued to get foul calls, as Jondan Salvador and Aguilar made 3-of-4 from the line to make it a 93-92 game.

 

With just over a minute to play, Salvador was called for a double dribble to give Petron the ball, but the Blaze Boosters couldn't capitalize despite a second look by Alex Cabagnot, and Mark Yee hauled in the rebound to give GlobalPort possession with 37.3 ticks left.

 

GlobalPort couldn't close the game out just yet as Mercado missed on a trey. David couldn't get the put-back to fall either, which led to Petron import Reynaldo Balkman securing the carom with 9.4 seconds remaining.

 

The Blaze Boosters had a chance to win it after the timeout, but Santos missed a trey from the left wing. Aguilar got the rebound and was fouled with 1.8 seconds left on the clock. He made the second try, allowing Petron one last shot. Cabagnot found Ronald Tubid in the corner, but two defenders closed out on him and was unable to get the shot off.

 

"I begged the players [at halftime] to play defense, [to] hang on and we could pull an upset," said Baculi. "We committed 14 first quarter turnovers and I told them we had to limit those to beat Petron."

 

"They responded and played good defense, [but] we were lucky that shot of Arwind didn't go down. Maybe it's a lucky win, but it's a good lucky win," the former Barako Bull Energy mentor said.

 

In the first quarter, Petron's penetration plays were bothered by GlobalPort's length inside. On the other end of the floor, Batang Pier tried to convert from range with little success. Gary David scored his team's first five points, and a wide-open dunk by import Justin Williams made it a 7-1 game at the eight minute mark.

 

The Blaze Boosters began to heat up on offense and pushed the pace, as Reynaldo Balkman, Ronald Tubid and Chico Lanete combined for their next twelve points. However, Petron were still unable to contain Williams, who scored nine of their next 12 points from the low block. His dominance helped GlobalPort end the quarter with a 19-16 lead.

 

Midway through the first quarter, Christ Lutz took a shot to the torso and was taken out of the game. It was reported later he suffered a rib injury and had been taken to the hospital for further examination.  [Related: Injury bug claims five victims in PBA opener]

 

In the second quarter, Petron found its groove on offense. Justin Williams appeared to have injured his hand, and his absence on the floor hurt Batang Pier. The Blaze Boosters then went on a 14-7 run. Sol Mercado nailed his first triple of the game with five and a half minutes to play to steady his team, but the Blaze Boosters were relentless even after Williams re-entered the game. David connected on a floater though as Batang Pier still trailed, 39-32, with just over two minutes remaining.

 

The Blaze Boosters forced their way to the rim and drew free throw attempts until the quarter expired. Aguilar drained an elbow jumper with six seconds left as his team hung around, 45-39, at halftime.  

 

After the half, sloppy ball handling by Petron led to easy baskets in the paint for Batang Pier as they cut the lead to two, but back-to-back hits by Balkman buoyed GlobalPort's lead. 

 

David was fouled on a three-ball attempt and made all three from the line, but their momentum was cut short when Justin Williams caught Junemar Fajardo's face with an elbow after securing a rebound. The Batang Pier import was assessed with a Flagrant 2 foul and ejected at the 8:18 mark. Fajardo hit the ensuing technical free throw to make it 52-48.

 

Aguilar, David and Mercado picked up the slack for their center, finding their way in the lane and combining for their next 10 points. Meanwhile the Blaze Boosters traded baskets as Arwind Santos and Balkman Washington replied, making it a 63-58 ballgame.

 

With three minutes to go Mercado's penetration kept GlobalPort close but the Blaze Boosters maintained their separation, capped by a Santos 16-footer on their final possession for a 69-64 lead after three quarters.

 

Batang Pier had the advantage from the line, making 22-of-32 tries (68.8 percent). In contrast, Petron was 13-of-20 from the stripe (65 percent). Batang Pier also had a better assist rate, tallying 24 versus Petron's 22. GlobalPort was 33-of-78 from the field (42.3 percent), while Petron was 37-of-89 (41.6 percent).

 

Reynaldo Balkman led his team with 23 points, 14 rebounds and six blocks. Arwind Santos added 15 points and 10 rebounds. Ronald Tubid and Alex Cabagnot notched 12 and 11 points respectively, and combined for nine boards. Cabagnot also had eight assists. - RAF, GMA News