At the SMART Araneta Coliseum on Sunday night, Terrafirma upset Barangay Ginebra, 91-85, to snap their losing streak in the PBA Season 48 Philippine Cup.

Even though Juami Tiongson, Stephen Holt, and Kemark Carino made huge baskets in the closing seconds, the Dyip still needed some luck to pull off the historic shock against the defending champions.

With 1:29 remaining in the game, Tiongson scored a game-high 25 points, including the two free throws that extended Terrafirma’s advantage to 91-79. This was only Terrafirma’s second victory against the crowd favorites in 23 meetings.

In the 2021 Philippine Cup bubble eliminations in Bacolor, where Tiongson scored 30 points, the team defeated Ginebra for the first time.

A few days after being transferred to Dyip, Javi Gomez de Liano scored 22 points and pulled down six rebounds against the team that had picked him in 2022.

After handing Ginebra its second consecutive loss for a 3-3 card, which tied them with TNT at fifth, Terrafirma moved to 4-3 to grab sole fourth place in the rankings.

Carino finished with 12 points after making two triples. Along with his 12 points, Stephen Holt contributed 11 rebounds, six assists, and two blocks in the win, that moved the Dyip two wins away from securing a trip to the quarterfinals.

On Wednesday, April 10, at 4:30 p.m., Terrafirma will attempt to land another big fish against the current top-seeded San Miguel Beer (4-0). in the same location.

Despite being benched in the fourth quarter, Christian Standhardinger led Ginebra with 21 points and seven rebounds.

In the defeat that caused Tim Cone to step down as coach in the latter stages of the game due to dissatisfaction, the Kings’ Japeth Aguilar scored 18 points, LA Tenorio scored 11, and Jamie Malonzo scored 10.

The only 25-time PBA champion coach was clearly disappointed with his team’s poor start, even though the Barangay managed to close the deficit to three points, 64-61, at the halfway mark of the game.

However, Terrafirma repelled their attempts at a comeback with such composure that, with 2:09 remaining in the game, it led by as much as 13.

Despite a significant disadvantage, Aguilar, Tenorio, and Malonzo attempted to pull Ginebra back into the game, but they ran out of time.

On Friday, April 12, at 7:30 p.m., at the Philsports Arena in Pasig, Ginebra will try to recover against another sliding club, Blackwater.

The Scores

Terrafirma 91 – Tiongson 25, Gomez de Liano 22, Carino 12, Holt 12, Go 9, Sangalang 7, Cahilig 2, Alolino 2, Olivario 0, Calvo 0, Ramos 0.

Ginebra 85 – Standhardinger 21, J.Aguilar 18, Tenorio 11, Malonzo 10, Onwubere 9, Ahanmisi 6, Pessumal 6, Pringle 2Cu 2, Pinto 0, R. Aguilar 0.

Quarter scores: 24-17; 41-40; 64-61; 91-85.