MARINERONG Pilipino coach Yong Garcia urged his troops to bring their A-Game against Adalem Construction-St. Clare so they could recover from a painful loss the last time out.
He got what we wanted yesterday.
Boosted by an endgame surge, the Skippers turned back the Saints 76-71 for their third win and seized solo second in the PBA D-League Aspirants’ Cup at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig.
Jollo Go scattered a game-high 19 points spiked by four three-pointers, on top of five rebounds for Marinerong Pilipino, while Kemark Cariño chipped in 12 markers and eight boards.
Juan Gomez de Liaño and Paolo Hernandez also had 11 and 10 points, respectively, as the Skippers got back on track after a 64-70 loss to Wangs Basketball @26-Letran five days ago and rose to 3-1.
Adalem Construction-St. Clare saw its two-game winning run come to an end that included an 84-50 beatdown of AMA Online last Thursday and dropped to 2-2 in a tie with Centro Escolar University.
In the second game, Apex Fuel-San Sebastian dismantled AMA Online 93-53 for its second straight win.
James Una led the Golden Stags with 12 points and five rebounds, while Michael Are added 11 markers and two caroms.
Ichie Altamirano and Rommel Calahat also had 10 points each for Apex Fuel-San Sebastian, which came up with an encore to its 88-83 decision over Builders Warehouse-University of Santo Tomas last Thursday and improved its mark to 2-1.
The Kings fell to their fourth loss in as many games.
“Masaya kami na nanalo kami sa game na ito but still marami pa ring lapses. Kagaya nga ng sinasabi ko sa kanila palagi, kailangan every time na tatapak kayo sa court, ibigay ninyo iyong best effort ninyo,” Garcia said.
“Hindi puwedeng 80 percent, 90 percent, kailangan 100 percent every time, every possession,” he added.
Knotted at 29-all at the half and 52-all heading into the payoff period, Marinerong Pilipino went on a 7-0 run capped by Go’s two free throws with 1:36 left to play.
A Johnsherick Estrada foul shot shoved the Saints to within 71-75, only 13.5 ticks left that proved to be Adalem Construction-St. Clare’s last hurrah.
Bam Lopez paced the Saints with 16 points and five rebounds, while John Rojas and Estrada contributed 15 and 14, respectively.
