The new acquisitions of the Globalport Batang Pier immediately made their presence felt as Solomon Mercado and Japeth Aguilar combined with hotshot Gary David to hack out a 94-92 win over the Petron Blaze Boosters in the opening game of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup last night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Making the feat more impressive was the fact that the Batang Pier did it without their import Justin Williams, who was ejected early in the third period after he was slapped with a flagrant 2 foul following a wayward elbow that hit Petron big man, Cebuano June Mar Fajardo.
But that just lit a fire from under Globalport led by the enigmatic Japeth Aguilar, who stepped up in their import’s absence to score 12 of his 16 points in the second half. He also made an impact on the defensive end as he had a crucial block on Petron’s Arwind Santos and an offensive board in the final minute that helped seal the deal for the Batang Pier. He finished with nine rebounds and three blocks for the night.
David meanwhile, was seemingly back to his scoring ways. After struggling with injuries in the Philippine Cup, David scored a game-high 28 points, most of which fueled their comeback from nine points down in the second half.
Mercado, who was acquired by the Batang Pier just before this conference started, finished with 17 markers.
Williams, before he got ejected, was having a sensational game with 18 points, 15 boards and three blocks. Renaldo Balkman, Petron’s import and the only one with legitimate NBA experience, scored 23