RIZAL, Philippines – It is already hard enough for local PBA teams to face Barangay Ginebra when they have the crowd rooting against them.
Much more for foreign squads.
But Hong Kong Eastern overcame the palpable support for the Gin Kings and silenced the partisan Ynares Center mob in Antipolo to the tune of a 93-90 win in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup on Sunday, December 15.
Hayden Blankley fired 25 points on a 5-of-9 clip from three-point range to go with 5 rebounds and 4 assists as the guest team picked up its third straight win and raised its record to 5-1.
Blankley earned some sort of redemption after being part of the Bay Area Dragons side that fell short of the Commissioner’s Cup crown two seasons ago as they bowed to Ginebra in a best-of-seven finals that went the distance.
“We had battled with them before for seven games in front of this crowd before, so for me, I think I was able to help block out the crowd and the noise,” said Blankley.
Import Chris McLaughlin also starred for Eastern with 20 points, 21 rebounds, 6 assists, and 2 blocks, Ramon Cao chipped in 14 points, while Glen Yang put up 14 points and 5 assists.
Eastern pulled off the win that pushed it to second place behind unbeaten NorthPort (5-0) despite a poor performance from the free throw line that saw it miss 14 of its 15 foul shots.
“For some of the guys, it is their first time to play in front of these fans,” said Eastern coach Mensur Bajramovic. “You saw we missed a lot of free throws in important moments because of it, and of course, it is great experience for us.”
While Eastern struggled at the line, the Gin Kings fired blanks from long distance, going 1-of-19 from three-point land and 0-of-4 from four-point country.
Still, Ginebra managed to stay in the game and nearly forced overtime.
A pair of RJ Abarrientos free throws cut the Gin Kings’ deficit to 90-91 with under five seconds left, but Blankley put the finishing touches in the win by calmly sinking his foul shots.
Scottie Thompson then misfired on his game-tying triple at the buzzer as Ginebra absorbed its first loss after a 2-0 start.
Japeth Aguilar paced the Gin Kings with 26 points, 8 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2 blocks, while Justin Brownlee netted 18 points, 12 rebounds, and 2 blocks.
Stephen Holt tallied 14 points and 5 rebounds, accounting for the only three-pointer Ginebra made.
Hong Kong Easter 93 – Blankley 25, McLaughlin 20, Cao 14, Yang 11, Lam 8, Chan 6, Guinchard 5, Leung 3, Xu 1, Cheung 0, Zhu 0
Barangay Ginebra 90 – J. Aguilar 26, Brownlee 18, Holt 14, Abarrientos 12, Rosario 12, Thompson 8, Ahanmisi 0, Cu 0, Adamos 0.
Quarters: 26-25, 54-44, 73-67, 93-90.
– Rappler.com
