Barangay Ginebra reasserted its dominance over Meralco, 112-107, to continue to stay on track for a possible twice-to-beat incentive in the Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup on Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Its latest win catapulted Ginebra to solo third spot and bolstered its chances for a twice-to-beat bonus going to the next round.
The Gin Kings improved their win-loss record to 5-2.
Christian Standhardinger came up with an import-like performance and flirted with a triple-double performance of 31 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists.
The Fil-German biggie continued to hold the fort up front for the Gin Kings in the absence of 6-foot-9 center/forward Japeth Aguilar who is still recovering from a knee injury.
Justin Brownlee, as expected, also came through with big baskets and was joined by Jeremiah Gray in delivering the telling blows down the stretch.
The Gin Kings will be entering the killer stretch in a week’s span as they’re playing Phoenix Super LPG on Friday and Converge on Sunday.
It was a strange feeling for the Gin Kings to play minus LA Tenorio, who missed his first game after a string of 744 straight games played.
Tenorio wasn’t in Ginebra’s game against Meralco as he underwent check up on his injury between his groin and abdomen area.
His long-time coach, Tim Cone, could only be amazed by Tenorio’s feat, but felt heartbroken for the veteran guard that the streak has come to an end.
“That’s devastating for LA, but all great things must come to an end,” said Cone. “He’s one of those guys who doesn’t only miss a game, but he doesn’t miss a practice as well throughout his career. It’s amazing he has gone this far and it’s going to be awhile before someone would break this. This is actually the first time he has missed a game his whole career and he’s 38 years old.”
“We said before the game that we’ll devote this game to LA for not being able to be here tonight. It’s an end of an era, but not the end of LA. He’s gonna come back and play and we look forward to it,” he added.
According to Cone, Tenorio would miss four to six weeks due to the injury, which means it’s likely that the veteran guard would return next season.
The Scores:
GINEBRA 112 – Standhardinger 31, Brownlee 29, Malonzo 16, Gray 12, Thompson 7, Pringle 5, Dillinger 0
MERALCO 107 – McDaniels 28, Maliksi 23, Newsome 15, Black 14, Hodge 10, Quinto 10, Banchero 5, Almazan 2, Caram 0, Jose 0
QUARTERS: 32-37, 54-61, 76-80, 112-107
