No way they can ward him off

There’s a gunslinger in town by the name of Jerod Ward.

Ward shot the lights out of the Philsports Arena in his first game in local shore and Mobiline made a rousing debut in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup by repulsing All-Filipino losing finalist Barangay Ginebra, 93-87, last night.

The 25-year-old former Michigan Wolverine in the US NCAA rifled in 11 triples and scored 61 points as he showed why he was called a legitimate scorer back home .

The Los Angeles Stars’ main man in the recently-concluded ABA 2000-2001 season with an average of 20.8 points a game – the third best in the league -- Ward shot 50 percent from the three-point area (11-of-22), 43 percent from the two-point zone (9-of-21) and 77 percent from the stripe (10-of-13) while also pulling down 16 rebounds and tallying three blocks, two steals and one assist in the most impressive debut by any import in the league in years.

His 11 triples were the most by any player since Swift import Jay Edwards fired 13 on Oct. 14, 1994 and his total output was the highest since San Miguel reinforcement Kenny Travis tallied 64 in November of the same year. He also went three points short of matching the largest score – Billy Ray Bates’ 64 with Crispa – made by an import in his debut in the league.

Informed of Bates’ record and the all-time high of 105 made by Tony Harris after the game, the Mobiline’s prized import confidently said those records can be broken.

Mobiline coach Louie Alas said Ward’s superb performance made his job easy last night.

But Alas was quick to point out that the tournament has just started and Ward can’t be complacent because he’ll surely become a marked man in the next few weeks.

"Hindi gabi-gabi ganyan ang mangyayari dahil sa susunod markado na siya at lahat ng help defense itatapon na sa kanya," said Alas.

Ward scored nearly double of Ryan Fletcher’s output as he totally outclassed his Ginebra counterpart, more than making up for what they missed in the absence of Mobiline ace local scorer Victor Pablo.

Ginebra also missed two key players in Vergel Meneses and Alex Crisano who are nursing different injuries.

Though peppered with three-point bombs by Ward, the Kings actually put up a fight, sitting on a 62-60 cushion at the end of the third quarter as they shrugged off a slwo start.

But the Kings couldn’t keep in step with Ward and the Phone Pals until the end.

Held to only seven in the third quarter after logging 33 in the first half. Ward came back strong in the fourth quarter, fuelling searing runs that had Mobiline beating Ginebra convincingly.