Terrafirma rolled over Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, 91-85, to get back on the right track in the Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup Sunday night at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
Juami Tiongson took care of business with another stellar offensive outing to push the Dyip up the standings with a 4-3 win-loss record.
The high-scoring guard finished with 25 points on a 9-of-14 field goal clip to fuel Terrafirma to its only second win over the frustrated Gin Kings in 23 meetings overall and first in the last three years.
“The players just wanted to win because this is very important for us. Because if we lose in this game we’ll be pulled down deeper. We won this game so I guess we need one or two more for us to get into the quarterfinals,” Dyip coach Johnedel Cardel said.
Javi Gomez de Liano scored the bulk of his 22 markers in the pivotal third quarter that saw the Dyip create a separation before keeping Ginebra at bay in the final period.
Terrafirma weathered the Gin Kings comeback attempt in the fourth when Gomez de Liano stopped Ginebra’s run that closed the gap to within five with a jumper followed by a completed three-point play by Stephen Holt and a layup by Jelo Alolino for an 81-69 lead with under six minutes left.
The Dyip built a 13-point wall, 89-76, with 2:09 left that cushioned another late run by the Gin Kings.
Holt had 12 points, 11 rebounds and six assists while Kemark Carino scored 12 for Terrafirma.
Ginebra suffered back-to-back losses for a 3-3 slate tied with Blackwater and TNT.
Christian Standhardinger got 21 points for the Gin Kings, Japeth Aguilar had 18 while LA Tenorio and Jamie Malonzo finished with 11 and 10 markers, respectively.
