The Barangay Ginebra Kings leaned on the leadership of court general LA Tenorio to carve out a thrilling 100-94 overtime win in Game One of the best-of-seven finals series in the PBA Philippine Cup on Sunday evening at the Angeles University Foundation Sports Arena in Pampanga.
Ginebra head coach Tim Cone said he’s fortunate to have a leader in the battle-tested Tenorio who issued the assist to rookie Arvin Tolentino, who made the basket to send the game in overtime. The 36-year old also dropped dimes to Aljon Mariano and Japeth Aguilar, whose slam with 31 ticks left in overtime secured the series-opening win.
“They were doing a really good job on Stanley, switching out and doubling him down the stretch so we started to put the ball in LA’s hands and making him make the decisions,” said Cone.
“He was really asking for it. He was asking for the ball. In LA we trust,” he added.
As awesome as Tenorio was in his decision-making, Cone lauded his team’s all-around efforts in getting the Game One victory.
“Everybody is contributing. Japeth was rolling hard, getting to the rim, making it easy passing for LA. It was really a great team effort. Scottie (Thompson) on the defensive rebounds and Arvin played really well, had that big basket to tie the game with a beautiful cut to the rim,” Cone shared.
Aguilar finished the game with 25 points and 16 boards while Pringle added 24 markers, seven rebounds and seven assists. Tenorio ended up with a double-double of 12 points and 10 assists with no turnovers.
Ginebra will try to take a commanding 2-0 series lead when Game Two comes around on Wednesday, December 2.
Bobby Ray Parks led TNT with 20 points but fouled out in the fourth quarter. Cebuano wingman Roger Pogoy tallied 19 points and six rebounds. (JNP)