English
On Saturday at the Ynares Center in Antipolo, JVEE Casio and youngster Ato Ular led Blackwater towards its second Philippine Cup great triumph, 97 to 90 against all of NorthPort.
Casio actually led the entire squad with 22 points, then while Ular, the team’s 13th best choice in the previous draft, tallied 17 as the two worked together just to help preserve Blackwater’s obvious advantage in the fourth intact on their road to success.
The Bossing, a recent conference cellar dweller the previous two seasons, kept making huge waves to normally start the conferences, significantly improving even their own win-loss record to 2 to 1 and currently sitting in the center of the pack in the team rankings.
NorthPort’s record eventually fell to 2 to 2 after just starting the season with three straight wins.
During the purely ceremonial handshake just after play, NorthPort coach Pido Jarencio exchanged some few choice words with Blackwater coach Ariel Vanguardia.
After the single game, Jarencio directly addressed Vanguardia, who also appeared to take issue with the timeout called by the Blackwater coach with six seconds remaining.
Yousef Taha scored a goal 10 points, seven rebounds, and six assists at all for the Bossing, who also ultimately led by as much as 15 points at one point in a game.
In such a losing performance, NorthPort’s Robert Bolick probably ended with 21 points, while Roi Sumang actually got 16 points.
Summary of Scores:
• Blackwater Scores 97 – Casio 22, Ular 17, Taha 10, Sena 10, McCarthy 9, Suerte 8, Amer 5, Ebona 4, Publico 4, Torralba 3, Escoto 2, Dyke 0. • NorthPort Scores 90 – Bolick 21, Sumang 16, Malonzo 14, Balanza 9, Ferrer 9, Santos 6, Dela Cruz 6, Ayaay 5, Calma 4, Apacible 0.
Scores per Quarter 28 to 24, 48 to 48, 74 to 59, and 97 to 90.
