Barangay Ginebra San Miguel head coach Tim Cone was happy with the Gin Kings’ energetic game which helped them run over listless Phoenix, 102-92, for back-to-back wins in the Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup on Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
However, the multi-titled mentor acknowledged that the absence of Fuel Masters glue guy Tyler Tio made life easier for Ginebra’s second victory in as many starts.
Tio sat out the match after sustaining a sprained left ankle in Phoenix’s 120-124 loss to NorthPort in its campaign opener last Friday.
“One thing that really helped us out today was that Tyler Tio didn’t play today,” Cone said.
“They are a different team without Tyler. He keeps everything under control, they don’t panic with him playing. He keeps the ball moving forward so I think that was our big advantage throughout the ballgame especially when we made that run to take the lead.”
Ginebra broke the game open in the third quarter after protecting a slim 47-43 lead to end the first half.
The Gin Kings outscored the Fuel Masters, 32-19, in the third canto. Ginebra then erected a 19-point advantage, 77-96, after a Stanley Pringle jumper with 5:40 left in the ballgame before cruising to victory.
Jamie Malonzo posted a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds, Pringle finished with 13 while Ralph Cu scored 12 markers from 4-of-6 three-point shooting for the Gin Kings.
“But I think, defensively, we’re hitting our outside shots. Our three-point shooting was led by the birthday boy (Cu),” Cone said.
“We started hitting shots in transition, I think we tried a little bit more. I think we tried to be up-tempo and looked for shots like that.”
Nard Pinto and Christian Standhardinger got 12 points each for Ginebra.
Despite the height disadvantage, Phoenix outmuscled Ginebra on points in the paint, 46-30.
Jason Perkins scored 14 points, Javee Mocon came a rebound short of a double-double with 13 markers and nine boards while Sean Manganti and Ken Tuffin got 11 and 10 points, respectively, for the Fuel Masters.
Box scores:
GINEBRA (102) – Malonzo 17, Pringle 13, Cu 12, Pinto 12, Standhardinger 12, J.Aguilar 9, Ahanmisi 7, Pessumal 6, David 5, Onwubere 5, Tenorio 4, Gumaru 0, R.Aguilar 0
PHOENIX (92) – Perkins 14, Mocon 13, Manganti 11, Tuffin 10, Garcia 9, Jazul 8, Rivero 7, Soyud 6, Muyang 4, Lalata 4, Alejandro 4, Daves 2, Verano 2, Camacho 2
Quarters: 23-24, 47-43, 79-62, 102-92
