The best-of-seven semifinals face-off for the PBA Philippine Cup opened tonight for the Globalport Batang Pier and Alaska Aces.
And tonight was GlobalPort’s night.
                                 Photo Credits to: pbaconnect/twitter
Beating the Aces 107-93, the Batang pier washed aside the top-seeded Aces for their first ever semifinals battle.
Coming from a long holiday, the Batang Pier went full throttle right from the opening quarter with a Stanley pringle, Terrence romeo, Keith Jensen, Billy Mamaril, and Doug Kramer line up that showed dominance on the floor.
In the early minutes of the first, the Batang pier already opened a 12-0 that left the Aces gasping for points. The quarter ended in Globalport’s favor, 29-18.
The Aces remained sluggish through the second quarter.
And at the half, Globalport maintained a double-digit lead at 52-42.
Globalport continued to dominate the Aces entering the second half, and with a big lead advantage, not even Sonny Thoss, Cyrus Baguio, Dondon Honitveros, or Calvin Abueva were able to turn the tide in the last two quarters of the game.
Globalport’s Romeo-Stanley Duo didn’t disappoint: Terrence Romeo scored a game-winning 41 points for , while his duo, Stanley Pringle, added 14 points, six rebounds and four assists.
For the Aces, Cyrus Baguio pulled 15 points, with RJ Jazul and Vic Manuel following up 14 points.
Though the Globalport Batang Pier won tonight, they have six more games to play with the Aces in the semifinals round.
Next fight will be on Wednesday.
Box Scores:
GLOBALPORT 107 – Romeo 41, Pringle 14, Jensen 12, Mamaril 12, Kramer 6, Semerad 6, Washington 6, Yeo 5, Maierhofer 4, Sumang 1, Pena 0.
ALASKA 93 – Baguio 15, Jazul 14, Manuel 14, Abueva 12, Thoss 12, Banchero 8, Menk 8, Casio 5, Hontiveros 3, Baclao 2, Dela Cruz 0, Dela Rosa 0, Exciminiano 0.
Quarters: 29-18, 52-42, 82-74, 107-93
