MANILA – Bobby Ray Parks Jr. took over the scoring cudgels in overtime as Blackwater Elite escaped with a 108-107 victory over Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings in the 2019 PBA Commissioner’s Cup last night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
With the score tied at 96-all, Parks drained back-to-back triples followed by a fastbreak layup to put the Elite on top 106-99.
The Kings countered with a basket from Justin Brownlee and a triple by LA Tenorio to cut the deficit to 104-106.
Parks increased the Elite’s edge to 108-104 with two free throws before the Kings made its last push at 107-108 on a triple by Brownlee.
Blackwater toughed its defense in the end to force the Ginebra to miss a potential go-ahead basket.
Parks finished the match with career-high 28 points while reinforcement Alex Stepheson added double-double 28 points and 25 rebounds.
The Elite rose to solo first place with 2-0 win-loss slate.
For the defending champion Kings, Brownlee finished with 44 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists while Gregory Slaughter chipped in 24 points and eight rebounds.
In the first game, Meralco Bolts nearly squandered a lead as high as 17 points before escaping with a 101-92 victory over the Columbian Dyip to clinch its first victory in two games.
The Bolts started strong in the match with 18-12 lead behind triples by Jackson and Nard John Pinto. The Dyip rallied to within four but the Bolts countered with a run for its biggest lead at 62-45.
The Dyip made its last push and was able to come to as close as 81-85 but the Bolts got timely conversions from Clifford Hodge, Chris Newsome and BaserAmer for a 99-89 edge.
Gani Lawal led the way with double-double 25 points and 27 rebounds, while Amer and Jackson chipped in 21 and 17 markers, respectively, for the Bolts. Kyle Barone finished with 26 points and 16 rebounds for the Dyip, which dropped to 0-2.
BOX SCORE:
BLACKWATER 108 – Parks 28, Stepheson 28, Belo 20, Digregorio 12, Maliksi 11, Sumang 5, Cortez 2, Tratter 2, Sena 0, Al-Hussaini 0, Alolino 0, Desiderio 0.
GINEBRA 107 – Brownlee 44, Slaughter 24, Tenorio 8, Dela Cruz 8, Chan 7, Thompson 7, Aguilar 3, Caperal 2, Mariano 2, Ferrer 2, Teodoro 0, Mercado 0.
Quarterscores: 25-22, 46-47, 70-79, 94-94, 108-107./PN
