By REYNALD MAGALLON
The rest of Terrafirma mobbed Paolo Hernandez during the Best Player of the Game interview. The players were giggling and cheering, seemingly enjoying themselves.
And for good reasons.
The Dyip ran roughshod over the Blackwater Bossing, 99-88, to pick up a rare third-straight win to start the PBA Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City on Wednesday, March 18.
The Dyip nearly squandered a huge 20-point lead in the first half but proved to have enough fuel to recover and pull away in the last two frames behind the efforts of Hernandez and Jerrick Ahanmisi.
Ahanmisi, after being limited to just five points in the first two quarters, came alive in the third, firing nine of his 18 points to spark a 13-5 rally bridging the last two frames and creating a 78-66 lead for the Dyip.
Hernandez came through with an all-game brilliance of 20 points, five rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks. Import Ali Mubashar also added a double-double of 22 points and 23 rebounds.
Terrafirma is now enjoying its best start in its franchise since 2016 or when then-Mahindra had a 4-0 slate to open the 2016 Governors’ Cup.
Meanwhile, Meralco bucked a slow start and then blew past Converge, 109-88 for a winning debut.
The Bolts had to shake off the cobwebs early on but when they got their bearings going there was simply no looking back as they handed the FiberXers their second straight loss in three outings.
Only up by three, 55-52, early in the third, the Bolts went on a searing 17-3 rally to break the game wide open and notch their first win in the mid-season conference
CJ Cansino spearheaded the assault for Meralco, catching fire from deep with three triples and two fours to score 20 of his 23 points in the second half.
Import Marvin Jones also made quite an impression in his first PBA game, posting 29 points and eight rebounds while veteran Chris Newsome chipped in 19 — including a one-handed dunk over Converge’s 7-foot import Kylor Kelly to help his team shake off the jitters during the slow start.
The FiberXers played without star rookie Juan Gomez de Liano although Alec Stockton tried to pick up the slack in his absence with 18 points.
