Petron Blaze has adopted a totally different mindset under coach Gee Abanilla.
And that’s too bad for Globalport, for the Boosters are just not – and will never be – in the mood to giving out free rides.
Playing hard in a game they could very well afford to lose, the Boosters on Sunday night ripped the Batang Pier apart in the second half for a 101-90 win that put Globalport in the bubble in the PBA Governors’ Cup at the Cuneta Astrodome.
Petron zoomed to its eighth straight win and closed out its elimination round stint with an 8-1 card for No. 1, a ranking the Boosters had sealed as early as Friday.
“We’re trying to create an image for ourselves. We want to play the same way no matter if we’re up or down,” Abanilla, who took over the squad just two weeks before this tournament opened, said.
“We want to play a certain way, with a certain identity,” he continued. “Right now, it’s more of a character building stage for our team, we want to have that character. People appreciate that – when you give all-out effort each night.”
The Batang Pier dropped to 3-5 in the standings and will clash with Barangay Ginebra for their last elimination round game, needing no less than a win to forge at least a playoff for the last quarterfinal berth.
Elijah Millsap played despite the flu and completed the tournament’s first triple double with 18 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists, playing 41 total minutes and helping the Boosters erect several 17-point bubbles in the second half.
Millsap, though, had 10 turnovers for the night, something which the Batang Pier couldn’t capitalize on with the Boosters playing with complete command all game long.
Arwind Santos had 15 points and 11 rebounds, Marcio Lassiter scattered 18 points and June Mar Fajardo and Alex Cabagnot both finished in twin digits for Abanilla, who was so focused all night that he played just 10 men.
“The thing to do right now is to stay sharp,” said Abanilla, as his Boosters will go on at least an eight-day break as they await the No. 8 seed. “I have to closely monitor the players.”
Meralco, meanwhile, drummed up its chances of a top four finish earlier in the night by repulsing Air21, 100-91, after Mario West scored 29 points and Mike Cortez showed that he adjusted completely to his new team.
Cortez, who was traded by Air21 last for the rights to Asi Taulava, quarterbacked the Bolts with great effect and wound up with 17 points and six assists, in the process earning Player of the Game honors in just his second outing with the fifth team in his career.
“We’ve been having the reputation of being a good defensive team,” Meralco coach Gregorio told reporters. “But if we want to go deep in this tournament, we need some offense. That’s why we traded for Mike Cortez.”
Meanwhile, commissioner Chito Salud on Sunday did not accept the protest that Rain or Shine tried to file after the Elasto Painters had lost to Barangay Ginebra, 101-100, courtesy of three Mac Baracael free throws in the final three-tenths of a second on Saturday.
A Rain or Shine official arrived 10 minutes past the 12 noon deadline and Salud declared the protest – which team owners Terry Que and Raymund Yu said they will file immediately after the loss – invalid.
Yu and Que claimed on Saturday night that referee Nol Quilingen decided the outcome of their game by calling a foul on Beau Belga on a shooting Baracael beyond the three-point line with Rain or Shine coming into the last two seconds protecting a 100-98 lead.
Though Salud did not accept the protest and the P20,000 bond, the commissioner and his staff still reviewed the incident in question and declared that Quilingen “was spot on in making the call.”
“That was a correct call, there was contact on the shooter,” Salud said in a press conference at the Cuneta Astrodome press room during halftime of the Meralco vs Air21 game.
“Any contact on the squared up shooter that affects ability to make the basket is a foul. He made the correct call.”
