Ateneo alumni
Emman Monfort and Doug Kramer came up big in their respective PBA games last
night. Monfort drained all but one of his three-point bombs to lead Barako Bull
past Meralco, even as Kramer came up with a huge double-double to help lead the
Boosters over the Gin Kings.
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| Emman Monfort delivered big time as Barako Bull rallied past the Meralco Bolts. |
In the
curtain-raiser, Barako Bull beat Meralco, 90-89, after utilizing some awesome
rebounding. The Energy outhustled the
Bolts on the glass, 61-45, with Mike Singletary's 14 rebounds leading the way.
The guy with the second-highest rebound total? Why, none other than recent-butt-of-jokes-on-ESPN-and-YouTube
Mick Pennisi, who hauled down 13 ribbies. The star of the show, however, was
small-but-terrible playmaker Emman Monfort. Right now, he may be a walking,
talking, and three-point shooting cliche, but, hey, I am pretty sure Barako
Bull manager/consultant Rajko Torman doesn't mind one bit. The pint-sized Blue
Eagle alum canned 4 of his 5 trey attempts to finish with 22pts in 29 minutes.
Here's one for the all the minions out there!
On the other
end, I loved Chris Ross's 7 assists, but I HATED his 6 turnovers. Oh, and
remember when we were all thinking that maybe Cliff Hodge was a dark horse ROY
candidate? Yeah, those days are LONG gone (4pts & 2rebs in 22 minutes).
In the main
game, Petron overcame Ginebra, 101-95, with the backcourt combo of Alex
Cabagnot and Marcio Lassiter registering impressive numbers. In this game, that
duo produced 41pts, 6rebs, 6asts, and 4stls on top of 5 threes and 15/27 FG
shooting. Could this signal a renaissance for those two and for Petron?
Ginebra actually
shot the ball better, rebounded better, and had more assists. So why did they
lose? How about turning the ball over TWENTY TWO TIMES?! And how about Dior
Lowhorn and Mark Caguioa contributing 9 of those TOs?
Here’s
another cliché for you – who let this Doug out? Cut me some slack with the
cliches, please. It's not everyday, after all, that Doug Kramer actually
registers a 17-10 game. The not-so-big man came up big in the clutch to help
lift the Boosters to a much-needed win after their opening loss. Whether this
sets the team back on-track for the season is still a big question mark, but,
hey, beggars cannot afford to be choosy.
Game Recaps:
BARAKO BULL over MERALCO,
90-89
Emman
Monfort, the smallest man in the PBA, played the biggest game of his career
Sunday as he helped Barako Bull to a 90-89 squeaker of Meralco in the
Governors’ Cup elimination round Sunday at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum.
The
pint-sized guard from Ateneo finished with 22 points, 17 of which came in the
second half, as he led the Energy Colas’ comeback from an eight-point halftime
deficit.
Mike
Singletary led the Energy Colas with 28 points, including a big defensive stop
in the last seven seconds to prevent Meralco’s Mario West from coming up with a
game-winning bucket.
The Bolts
had two chances to snatch the win but on both occasions, West came up with same
result — missing a short banked shot off a drive.
“Very tough
game for us because we were coming off a tough loss against Talk ‘N Text,” said
Barako Bull coaching consultant Rajko Toroman. “We were not lucky against Talk
‘N Text. We had a controversial technical foul at the end of the game.
“The first
half we didn’t play good because our point guard didn’t play good. We had 15
turnovers in the first half that killed the team. Our starting guard Emman
didn’t play much in the first half because of three fouls and the other point
guards were not able to organize our offense well.”
But for
Toroman, the biggest adjustment he made was putting in Dorian Pena, a veteran
player reacquired by the Energy Colas for Doug Kramer.
Pena didn’t
produce a single point, but he had seven rebounds and his defense inside was
big for Barako Bull.
“Dorian
changed everything. His toughness defensively gave us special strength even
when he was not making any point,” added Toroman.
BAR 90 – Singletary 28, Monfort 22,
Seigle 12, Buenafe 7, Jensen 6, Pennisi 5, Intal 4, Marcelo 2, Macapagal 2,
Cruz 2, Weinstein 0, Yap 0, Pena 0.
MER 89 – West 33, Hugnatan 16,
Salvacion 12, Wilson 9, Hodge 4, Guevarra 4, Ross 4, Allado 4, Vanlandingham 3,
Mangahaas 0.
QS: 22-21; 41-49; 66-67; 90-89.
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| Mario West skies for a dunk! |
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| Keith Jensen obliges with a slam of his own! |
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| Wow. 44-year old Alice Dixon still has it. |
PETRON over BGY. GINEBRA,
101-95
Gee Abanilla
didn’t have to wait long to get his first official PBA win as head coach of
Petron.
On Sunday
against crowd favorite Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, Abanilla booked the first
victory of his PBA head coaching career with a 101-95 result for the Boosters
in the PBA Governors’ Cup at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum.
Marcio
Lassiter scored eight of his 23 points in the fourth quarter while new recruit
Doug Kramer contributed 17, 11 of which came in the second half, to help the
Boosters get into the win column.
“Doug really
played good defense against Dior Lowhorn. Lowhorn is really a big boy inside.
He can really post up and he’s really strong, so we had a hard time against
him, but Doug did a pretty decent job stopping him,” said Abanilla during the
postgame interview.
Kramer’s
defense held Lowhorn scoreless the whole third period, before the import flexed
his muscles anew in the fourth period, when he scored 11 of his 29 points.
But it was
in the fourth period when the Petron locals struck hardest as Lassiter, Arwind
Santos, and Kramer conspired, scoring a combined 19 points out of the team’s
22.
“Transition
offense worked for us today. Drag screens, the shooters coming off for open
shots. Marcio played well and also our import, Elijah Millsap,” added Abanilla.
Petron Blaze
outscored the usually faster Gin Kings in transition, 17-6.
PET 101 – Millsap 24, Lassiter 23,
Cabagnot 18, Kramer 17, Santos 12, Tubid 5, Fajardo 2, Deutchman 0, Lutz 0,
Lanete 0.
GIN 95 – Lowhorn 29, Caguioa 15, Ellis
12, Tenorio 9, Aguilar 8, Wilson 7, Mamaril 6, Helterbrand 5, Baracael 4,
Urbiztondo 0.
QS: 26-29; 45-52; 79-71; 101-95.
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| Doug Kramer is all smiles after towing his new team to a big win. |
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| Elijah Millsap goes up and pulls back for the huge slamma jamma. |
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| LA Tenorio returned to PBA action after helping Gilas Pilipinas book a ticket to the 2014 FIBA World Cup. |
Source: Unless otherwise specified, game
recaps were compressed and compiled from InterAKTV. (Writing credit to Rey
Joble)
Images: Images are from InterAKTV. (Photo
credit to Paolo Papa and Pranz Kaeno Billones)
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