Christian Standhardinger of the Ginebra Gin Kings facing Converge defenders in a PBA Philippine Cup game. –PBA IMAGES
Stalling in the first two frames, Barangay Ginebra accelerated in the second half on Saturday night to beat Converge 105-93 and improve its positioning in the race for the much-coveted playoff protection in the PBA Philippine Cup.
Christian Standhardinger was great once again, falling short of a rare triple-double with 33 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists in the contest at the Aquilino Pimentel Jr. International Convention Center in Cagayan de Oro City.
Five other players in the crowd, honey, posted double-digit scores in a blowout that took down the FiberXers after picking up their decisive victory over Meralco last week.
READ: PBA: Injury-plagued Ginebra gets David Murrell
Ginebra thus improved to a 7-3 win-loss record behind powerful and undefeated sister team San Miguel, which had won eight consecutive matches.
Dave Murrell, the former Magnolia forward taken off the unrestricted free agent list a few days ago, saw just five minutes of action, scoring three points and grabbing two rebounds.
Alec Stockton had 32 points, six rebounds and six assists as the young guard continued to prove his worth as an ace for the slumping Telecom club, who, with a 1-9 mark and one game left against TNT, can still improve—albeit slightly—his horrendous performance in the central tournament.
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Ginebra, who also got all-around performances from Scottie Thompson (10 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists) and Maverick Ahanmisi (17 points, six rebounds and seven assists), led by as many as 21 points in the rout that extended their winning streak to four games.
The traditional powerhouse will look to sustain this breakout against NLEX on May 5th.
PBA scores:
GENEVA 105 – Standhardinger 33, Ahanmisi 17, Cu 13, J.Aguilar 12, Thompson 10, Pinto 10, Murrell 3, Pringle 3, Pessumal 3, Gumaru 1, David 0, Onwubere 0, Tenorio 0, R.Aguilar 0.
CONVERGE 93 – Stockton 32, Spider 18, Melecio 10, Winston 9, Delos Santos 7, Maagdenberg 7, Saints 5, Caralipio 2, Fornilos 2, Flowers 1, Neto 0.
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Quarter scores: 24-21, 48-48, 83-69, 105-93.
