MANILA – Blackwater Elite relied on its outside shooting in the overtime to score a 124-118 win over Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings in the 2018 PBA Governors’ Cup last night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Elite opened the extension period with consecutive three-pointers from Ilonggo Paul Zamar, Henry Walker and Rey Mark Belo for a 119-113 lead.
The Kings kept it close at 116-119 on an inside hit by Jeffrei Chan.
The Elite, however, was able to create distance anew from Kings with Zamar converting another triple for a 122-116 edge.
Kings’ Justin Brownlee cut the deficit to four but Elite’s John Paul Erram sealed the victory with an inside conversion.
Walker led the way with 39 points, seven rebounds and nine assists while Zamar added career-high 17 markers for the Elite.
This was Elite’s best start at 4-0 win-loss card.
Brownlee, meanwhile, top-scored with 41 points while LA Tenorio added 17 markers for the crippled Kings (3-1).
They played without centers Gregory Slaughter, Japeth Aguilar and Jervy Cruz, and guards Solomon Mercado, Julian Sargent and Arthur dela Cruz.
In the first game, San Miguel Beermen displayed its shooting ability by converting 23 three-point baskets en route to a lopsided 143-119 victory over the cellar-dwelling Columbian Dyip.
After falling behind 64-66 at the half, the Beermen waxed hot in the third period with three point conversions from Arwind Santos, Marcio Lassiter and Alex Cabagnot for a 107-84 lead and never looked back
Santos led the scoring for the Beermen with 29 points, with 19 coming in the first quarter alone, while Lassiter and Christian Standhardinger added 28 and 21 points, respectively.
Reinforcement Arizona Reid contributed just 16 points but nearly finished with quadruple-double with 17 rebounds, 11 assists and six steals for Beermen, which improved to 2-1.
Jackson Corpuz finished with career-high 28 points, while import Akeem Wright and Jerramy King added 22 markers apiece for the Dyip, which suffered its sixth defeat in as many games./PN
