Jamie Malonzo had a knockout performance to start Barangay Ginebra San Miguel’s campaign in the Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup Friday night.
The Gin Kings banked on the hot hands of Malonzo as he punched in a career-high 32 points in a 113-107 victory over winless Rain or Shine at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Malonzo with a bloodshot left eye following his involvement in a viral punching incident a few weeks back, took over the scoring chores with top guard Scottie Thompson out indefinitely due to back issues.
He shot 12-of-24 from the field, grabbed eight rebounds, handed off three assists and was active on the defensive end tallying four blocks and two steals in a productive 39 minutes of inspired action.
“It’s hard to put into words right now (what I’m feeling). I just focused on practicing with my team,” an emotional Malonzo said.
Ginebra was in control for much of the game and even led 92-79 heading into the payoff period.
The game got chippy towards the final minutes when the Elasto Painters made a late run to trim down the margin to 111-107 after Adrian Nocum’s layup in the last 16 seconds.
But the Gin Kings with time on their side sank two charities courtesy of Maverick Ahanmisi to ice the game and send Rain or Shine reeling to a 0-3 win-loss record.
“We kinda lost our discipline down the stretch, no doubt about that. We made some mental mistakes down the stretch. We’re a veteran team we should be better than that,” Ginebra coach Tim Cone said.
Ahanmisi flirted with a triple-double with 18 points, nine assists and nine rebounds, Christian Standhardinger posted 18 markers, 13 boards and six assists while Japeth Aguilar and Stanley Pringle made 17 and 12 points, respectively.
Rain or Shine, which only held the lead by making the firsts basket of the game, got 21 points from Anton Asistio while Leonard Santillan and Andrei Caracut had 16 each.
Nocum finished with 12 points and six assists in another losing effort for the Elasto Painters.
Box scores:
GINEBRA (113) – Malonzo 32, Standhardinger 18, Ahanmisi 18, J.Aguilar 17, Pringle 12, Cu 7, Pinto 5, Gumaru 3, Tenorio 1, Pessumal 0, Onwubere 0
RAIN OR SHINE (107) – Asistio 21, Caracut 16, Santillan 16, Mamuyac 16, Belga 9, Borboran 8, Norwood 5, Clarito 4, Datu 0, Demusis 0
Quarters: 33-26, 58-52, 92-79, 113-107
