ONE FOR PRIDE
When the two worst teams of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup faced off on Wednesday, pride was the biggest thing at stake inside Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
That notion was something not lost in the minds of coach Jeffrey Cariaso and the Blackwater Bossing, who came away with a 96-86 decision over a Terrafirma Dyip side that remained as the only team in the midseason conference without a victory to show.
“That in itself was already a motivation,” Cariaso acknowledged after the Bossing won for just the second time in nine matches, snapping a skid of four consecutive losses.
“The fact that you’re losing four in a row is already a motivation despite who we are facing, which happened to be Terrafirma. [But] the idea was to keep pushing,” Cariaso added.
Import George King got his usual scoring numbers, putting up 26 after converting nine of 31 shots from inside and out, while Justin Chua, Jaydee Tungcab and Mike Ayonayon came off the bench to spark Blackwater’s triumph.
Blackwater won for the first time since Dec. 12 when it ended Meralco’s 3-0 start in the eliminations and still holds a very slim hope of reaching the quarterfinals.
The Bossing must sweep their last three games—against the Converge FiberXers on Sunday, Phoenix Fuel Masters on Jan. 21 and leader NorthPort Batang Pier on Jan. 25, all at Ynares Center in Antipolo City—to at least have a shot at catching up with other quarterfinal aspirants.
San Miguel Beer currently holds the No. 8 position at 4-4, NLEX was facing TNT at press time aiming to end its own four-game slide and improve a 3-5 win-loss slate while Phoenix (3-5) and Magnolia (3-6) slug it off on Thursday at Philsports Arena in Pasig City.
Eliminated
Terrafirma became the first team to be eliminated from playoff contention after dropping to 0-10 with two to play. The only motivation it has is to avoid a winless conference, something that the franchise has done multiple times in the past.
Import Brandon Edwards posted 29 points and 16 rebounds for the Dyip, whose odds of getting at least one win are super slim with Hong Kong Eastern next this Friday at Philsports and TNT on Jan. 22 at Ynares Antipolo.
For now, though, Blackwater can be content with getting a rare victory amid a difficult campaign.
Star rookie Sedrick Barefield has missed the previous three games with a foot injury while RK Ilagan has been sidelined as well, contributing to the Blackwater woes.
“It hasn’t been a smooth road for us this conference,” said Cariaso. “But I like to say that our will, our intensity and our mindset are always being challenged. And we have to understand that this was part of basketball and it was one of the things I expressed to the boys.
“And tonight, they stepped up and they were ready. I told them [that] tonight was a must-win game, pretty simple,” he added.
Chua had 17 points and 12 rebounds in perhaps his best game since returning from an ACL injury in April 2024 while Ayonayon and Tungcab both provided the spark for the Bossing with 15 and 11 points, respectively.
