Globalport did a lot of wheeling and dealing in the off-season to be able to form a formidable enough team to stand against the best in the PBA Philippine Cup.

On Wednesday night, Petron Blaze – shorthanded and all – showed the Batang Pier that success doesn’t come overnight.

The Boosters took control early and never looked back, playing with complete command in a 97-87 ripping of the Batang Pier even as Barako Bull, maligned in the off-season because of what many viewed as ridiculous trades, showed that it did the right thing.

Before a lean Araneta Coliseum crowd, the Boosters dominated inside and out as five players scored in twin digits with the team mangling the Batang Pier off the boards, while playing a lot better as a team.

With June Mar Fajardo and Arwind Santos controlling the middle, the Boosters had a 58-47 advantage off the boards, and even with Alex Cabagnot sitting it out because of a foot injury, Petron posted a 27-14 edge in assists.

Cabagnot will be out for a while because of his plantar injury, but the Boosters hardly felt his absence with Marcio Lassiter and Chris Lutz helping out the team’s role players – Chris Ross and Paolo Hubalde – in manning the backcourt.

Petron also lost relief center Yousef Taha to a knee injury in the first half, and this is the reason why coach Gee Abanilla didn’t sound ecstatic in the press room despite the impressive win.

“We’re happy but at the same time a little worried about this win,” Abanilla said. “We’re happy that despite some personnel problems, we managed to get this win. But the injury to Taha worries me and Alex is not scheduled to return any time soon.”

Taha played for just six minutes and scored six points before hurting his right knee in a bad landing after converting a layup.

“We’re kind of lean in that (center) position,” Abanilla said. “He said he’s OK, but he also said that he heard something pop. We will take no chances. We want to have an MRI (on his knee) to determine the extent of the injury.”

Sol Mercado and Jay Washington still led the Batang Pier, who have six rookies and an interim coach in Richie Ticzon.

Terrence Romeo and RR Garcia, former MVPs in the UAAP with Far Eastern, had decent pro debuts but couldn’t stand out.

Meanwhile, Barako Bull wasted no time in justifying several questionable trades in the last Draft as the Energy mangled Air21 black-and-blue, 88-75, in the first game.

Opting to trade Draft rights that would have meant younger and less expensive players in favor of high-priced veterans, the Energy roared to leads of as many as 33 points in the third quarter to win with plenty to spare.

Barako Bull held the Express to 11 second quarter points to take a 20-point lead at the half, before bloating this to 63-30 late in the third period after a three-point play by JC Intal.

Afterwards, during the customary winning coach’s interview, coach Bong Ramos also wasted no time defending team management’s position during Draft Day.

“Those trades were part of the (pre-season) plan,” Ramos, who finally has control of the team after management let go of Serbian Rajko Toroman in the off-season, said. “The plan was to get tried and tested players.”

From a 22-17 lead at the end of the first, the Energy raced to 48-28 lead after two quarters that had the Express wondering what hit them..

“Going into the game, I was already expecting a positive result (win),” Ramos added. “There’s still a long way to go. But this will be the character of this team. I can see that we will be able to pull off a lot of surprises.”