Games Today (Smart Araneta)
3 p.m. – San Miguel Beer vs Meralco
5:15 p.m. – NLEX vs Purefooods
At halftime yesterday, with Blackwater trailing badly, 49-32, import Marcus Douthit walked past the Elite locker room, past the big wooden cross at the players entrance, past the big TV5 OB van parked at the spacious equipment area of the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
A few more steps and the 7-foot Douthit could have made his way to the parking building, into his car, out of the Big Dome and away from the cold-blooded massacre the GlobalPort Batang Pier were carrying out inside.
Instead a bowed Douthit paced back and forth apparently to clear his head and reflect on what needed to be done in the second half to avert a second straight blowout loss.
Then he joined his Elite teammates in the dugout.
Douthit would have been better off slipping away when he had the chance.
A mere 11 seconds into the third quarter, GlobalPort import Paul O’Bryant scored and drew a foul on Douthit to kick off a decisive breakaway as the Batang Pier roared to a 32-point spread on the way to a 100-76 victory in the PBA Governors’ Cup.
The 2-0 start was a franchise best for GlobalPort and the 24-point margin was its biggest so far, erasing a 23-point win over the same team last conference.
Terrence Romeo led GlobalPort with 20 points while Stanley Pringle, back from a right ankle injury, added 18 and Ronjay Buenafe 16 points. Pringle and Buenafe both went 4 of 6 from 3-point range. The 7-foot O’Bryant was 4 of 18 from the floor but he had 11 rebounds and Doug Kramer 10 as the Batang Pier controlled the boards, 62-50.
Douthit, who got into a verbal altercation with GlobalPort coach Pido Jarencio in the second quarter, had 24 points and 15 rebounds. But he just had 5 in the third quarter where the Batang Pier struck the hardest, 30-17, sending the Elite plummeting to a consecutive setback after a 106-80 loss to the Alaska Aces on opening day.
Hoarse, by his own admission, from the tension of their previous game with the Meralco Bolts, Jarencio laughed off the exchange with Douthit, but did provide some juicy bits.
“Konting kilitian lang,” he said, chuckling. “Niyayaya ako e pero ewan ko lang kung saan. Diyos ko naman, nasa Pilipinas ako pa’no naman ako matatakot? Sabi niya, ‘right now.’ Sabi ko naman, ‘okey, come here.” Kaso English salita kaya di na ko pumatol.”
The row got coach and import a technical, but did nothing to inflame a basically one-sided game.
On his second game after taking a short sabbatical and assuming the role of consultant in the Commissioner’s Cup, Jarencio said their hot start could serve them well for the coming “acid tests” against Purefoods and San Miguel Beer.
“Doon malalaman kung saan kami pupunta this conference,” he said.
Pringle came off the bench in the second quarter and went 3 of 4 from the floor with 2 rebounds and 2 assists in his first six minutes this conference.
Scores:
GLOBALPORT 100 – Romeo 20, Pringle 18, Buenafe 16, O’Bryant 11, Kramer 7, Mamaril 6, Isip 6, Pinto 4, Jensen 4, Semerad 3, Miranda 3, Krayem 2, Taha 0, Ponferada 0, Caperal 0.
BLACKWATER 76 – Douthit 24, Cervantes 11, Reyes 9, Laure 8, Heruela 7, Celiz 6, Salvacion 5, Golla 2, Gamalinda 2, Acuna 2, Timberlake 0, Erram 0, Bulawan 0, Ballesteros 0.
Quarters: 19-13, 49-32, 79-49, 100-76