Anthony upbeat on GlobalPort's Philippine Cup bid despite loss to SMB

MANILA, Philippines — GlobalPort was coming off two straight wins that Sean Anthony firmly believes the team's loss to San Miguel on Wednesday night was not due to their failure to close out the game.

“It’s San Miguel’s dominance,” he said matter of factly.

The Batang Pier, who were fresh from wins over Blackwater and Rain or Shine, along with a slim loss to Ginebra earlier this month, fell flat against the reining Philippine Cup champions. For their part, GlobalPort was neck-and-neck with the undermanned-yet-stacked San Miguel side for over 40 minutes.

Until Hureuela and Fajardo happened.

"June Mar had 34 (points),” Anthony said. "Brian attacked and created and did stuff.”

But the league’s former Most Improved Player remains optimistic, as there are plenty of takeaways from the tussle with the perennial finalists.

“[The loss] doesn’t mean we can’t get better in the future to find ways to stop that,” he said. “That’s just their experience and we’re going to have to grow fast and learn.”

"They went on an 18-0 run and we just didn’t play defense,” Anthony noted. "Defense got us the last two wins, props to Brian and June Mar because they just took over and we couldn’t stop them so it’s back to the drawing board on the defensive end.”

"We’ll look at the tape and we’ll get back to that,” the versatile forward said.

GlobalPort, now under the tutelage of returning tactician Pido Jarencio, will to rebound from their loss when they take on the tentative Meralco Bolts this Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.