FOR a while, Terrafirma failed to sustain the resolve it showed early on against a hard-fighting foe last night.
A nearly 20-minute delay due to a power outage at the Big Dome and a fire that broke out at the nearby Araneta bus terminal proved to be what the Dyip needed to regain their bearings.
With import Jordan Williams running rings around his defenders, Terrafirma humbled Blackwater 119-106 for its second win in the PBA Governors’ Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The 6-foot-6 Williams, who went undrafted in the NBA draft in 2015 out of North Texas, scattered a game-high 57 points– 14 in the opening quarter, 13 in the second, eight in the third, and 22 in the fourth– on top of 11 rebounds and five assists for the Dyip.
Juami Tiongson provided ample help with 27 markers, seven boards and five dimes, while Eric Camson added 17 and nine for Terrafirma.
The win jacked up the Dyip’s mark to 2-2 and atoned for a 102-122 shellacking at the hands of San Miguel Beer seven days ago.
The Bossing absorbed their third straight loss, including a 99-125 setback at the hands of Meralco last Saturday, and dropped to 1-4 in the season-ending tourney despite the 55 points scored by import Troy Williams.
Terrafirma coach Johnedel Cardel admitted his charges fell into a stupor after they led by as much as 32-14 on an Alex Cabagnot jumper with 11:49 to go in the second canto.
The game was halted at the 7:20 mark of the second due to the power outage and fire.
“Hindi naman (delay affected them), parang nakabuti nga sa amin, at least we regrouped kasi we had an (early) 18 points lead and after that we ended up with a seven-point lead,” Cardel said. “I told the guys we had a bad game in the second quarter so we had to recover. We only had two assists and we’re not playing as a team.
“Nag-respond naman sila. Kung ganoon ang laro namin at kanya-kanya tayo, if all of you score 15, 30 points, hindi talaga tayo mananalo but if you support your teammates mananalo tayo,” he added.
The Dyip settled for a 53-46 edge at the halfway mark and went into the final stanza with an 80-72 cushion.
Troy Williams, who replaced Shawn Glover as Blackwater reinforcement, pulled the Bossing to within 101-104 with a free throw with 3:06 remaining but that proved to be too little, too late as Jordan Williams and Camson combined to steady the ship for Terrafirma.
Williams also had 14 caroms and five feeds, while JVee Casio had 14 markers.
RK Ilagan and Ato Ular also combined for 21 points for the Bossing.
The Williams’ outputs were highest among two imports since NLEX’s Al Thornton scored 69 against the Beermen Tyler Wilkerson’s 58 in a 131-127 triple-overtime SMB triumph on April 5, 2016.
