Bocaue, Bulacan (CNN Philippines, December 25) — It’s a merry Christmas for Ginebra fans.
Barangay Ginebra reasserted their mastery over the Magnolia Hotshots, 89-78, in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup Christmas edition of the Manila Clasico on Monday at the Philippine Arena.
Greg Slaughter paced Ginebra with 24 points and 13 rebounds, while LA Tenorio pitched in with 15 markers.
It was a wire-to-wire victory for Ginebra, who banked on defense to beat down the Hotshots in Bulacan.
The Barangay pushed their lead to 48-37 at the halftime break, but Magnolia would battle back in the third frame.
Ian Sangalang, who proved to be the most potent threat of Magnolia offensively, hit a jumper to get themselves within 53-52 at the 7:24 mark of the third quarter.
But Ginebra refused to concede the advantage, and kept their rivals at bay to carry an 66-60 cushion into the payoff period.
There wasn’t much Magnolia could do as Jervy Cruz pushed Ginebra’s advantage to as much as 76-64 halfway into the final quarter.
A Paul Lee triple got Magnolia within 82-76 with 1:50 left to play, but that was the closest they got to stealing the victory.
Sangalang led all scorers with 25 markers in the loss.
After the game, Ginebra head coach Tim Cone was happy with what he considered an unexpected result.
“I’m a little surprised, I’m surprised with the way we played,” Cone admitted. “We played with a lot of energy, which I thought we couldn’t do with the distractions of Christmas.”
With the team just coming off a championship and hobbled by injuries, Cone said he was expecting the worst.
“It was like a perfect storm for us to get beat tonight, but the guys found a way,” Cone said.
Ginebra returns to action on January 7 against GlobalPort, while Magnolia comes back on January 10 against the KIA Picanto.
