Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings’ Japeth Aguilar during a PBA Philippine Cup game against Terrafirma Dyip. –PBA IMAGES
Japeth Aguilar scored 30 points to lead Barangay Ginebra over Terrafirma, 101-80, for a bright start to its PBA Philippine Cup campaign on Wednesday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Aguilar went 12-of-15 from the field to produce the ninth 30-point game of his career as Ginebra won handily despite being 25 days removed from losing to TNT in the Commissioner’s Cup Finals.
He also grabbed seven rebounds and blocked four shots for the Gin Kings in the blowout win.
RJ Abarrientos came away with 14 points and seven assists even as Scottie Thompson added 11 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists to aid Ginebra’s cause.
Thompson also had one steal, which came early in the third quarter, for the 500th of his career.
Ginebra’s victory came two days before its marquee matchup with San Miguel Beer, already with a 2-1 record but coming off a 98-95 overtime loss to Magnolia, at the same venue.
The Gin Kings played minus Jamie Malonzo who sat out the contest with a knee problem while Jeremiah Gray had an injury scare in the third quarter, but seemed to be fine as he left the Big Dome after the game.
Terrafirma fell to 1-3 after dropping its third straight game, this time missing the services of Terrence Romeo.
CJ Catapusan finished with 14 points for the Dyip, fellow rookie Mark Nonoy added 12 and Louie Sangalang tallied 12 points and six rebounds.
The Dyip next play the Magnolia Hotshots on May 4 at Ynares Center in Antipolo City.
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