The Barangay Ginebra San Miguel is scheduled for a knockout game against the Alaska Aces at 7:00 P.M. on February 7, 2017 in Smart Araneta Coliseum.
inquirer
The continuation of the Quarterfinals round between Ginebra and Alaska resumes today.
Alaska was on the way on taking the slot going to the semi-finals round that’s when they led by as much as 17 points against Barangay Ginebra as the first-half official time expired.
However, the “Never-Say-Die” team once again proved that they know how to manage a critical and important situation as they made its own version of rampage in the third quarter.
A devastating 29-4 run unleashed by Ginebra and took over the driver seat as they entered the fourth and final quarter.
Sol Mercado was the key player for Coach Tim Cone in the third quarter comeback.
Mercado sank a back-to-back three-pointers that initiated the Ginebra run but most importantly the sleeping Ginebra fans woke up and delivered a thunderous cheer inside the arena.
“We were struggling to score in the first half, but our defense kept us in it. Luckily, we played horrible and we’re only down by 12 at the half. We knew that we picked it up offensively, relaxed a little, I think we wanted it too bad,” Mercado said. “Coach told us to calm down and let the game come to us and continue to focus on getting stops.”
Sol Mercado finished the game with 12 points and dished out six assists. LA Tenorio added 16 points where he got all of those only in the second half.
The questionable player in tonite’s game will be Joe Devance who was taken to locker room in the first half due to injuries.
This will add concern to Ginebra coaching staff as they already missed the services of their other big-man Greg Slaughter since the previous conference.
Calvin Abueva and JV Casio led Alaska offense who scored 20 points and 16 points respectively.