Bossing move
RODRIGUEZ, Rizal—Blackwater turned the tables on Rain or Shine on a rainy Saturday evening.
Behind an impressive debut from import Kentrell Barkley and support from a somewhat-inspired Sedrick Barefield, the Bossing pummeled the Elasto Painters, 131-108, at the Ynares Center Montalban to open the PBA Governors’ Cup on a huge note.
The 23-point victory marked a dramatic reversal from the teams’ lone meeting in the Commissioner’s Cup, when Rain or Shine handed Blackwater the most lopsided defeat in PBA history—a 56-point blowout.
For coach Pat Aquino, who will get a full conference under his belt as Blackwater coach, the result’s significance was not lost on the team.
“I know it’s at the back of our minds. But I think it’s in the past,” Aquino said, adding that the Bossing came into the match “wanting to imitate Rain or Shine by being aggressive from start to finish.”
Aggressive was on the mindset of Barkley, who ripped Rain or Shine apart from the onset with a barrage of threes that led to a 12-2 start. He finished with 29 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists in an impressive PBA debut.
Barefield added 24 after being a subject of trade rumors in the weeks leading up to the conference.
Meanwhile, coach Jimmy Alapag tries to steer NLEx to win No. 2 on Sunday at the same venue, facing off against Terrafirma, which is also eyeing a 2-0 start in the third conference. Tipoff is at 5:15 p.m.
Alapag and the Road Warriors had an auspicious start to his tenure two nights ago when they blew out the guest team Macau Giant Pandas, 114-75.
Import DeQuan Jones scored 23 points while Kevin Alas added 19 during the contest that saw Alapag spread the minutes of all players to figure out his rotation for the long run.
Terrafirma also started the conference on the right track, beating Titan Ultra, 113-100, also on Friday at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.
In that game, the Dyip set a PBA record for most rebounds in a single game with 93, with rookie Geo Chiu posting career highs of 19 points and 23 rebounds.
Converge opens the conference at 7:30 p.m. against Titan Ultra, as it aims to bounce back from a dismal Commissioner’s Cup when it failed to make the quarterfinals despite a loaded lineup.
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