MANILA, Philippines — Gaining from the splendid comeback game of Jeron Teng, Alaska finally got over the hump and scored a 78-71 breakthrough over Rain or Shine in the PBA Governors’ Cup last night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Teng, who was sidelined by a hamstring injury at the start of the conference, immediately made a big impact and scored eight of his 18 points in the fourth quarter as the Aces claimed their maiden win for coach Jeffrey Cariaso after a 0-5 start.
In the second game, Justin Brownlee delivered a triple-double of 28-14-14 as Barangay Ginebra arrested a two-game skid with a 129-124 dispatching of erstwhile unbeaten San Miguel Beer.
“Just happy to get that monkey off your back. Today I think is the day that for once, we played a solid four quarters because in previous games, there’s only maybe one quarter we played okay, we’re lucky to have two quarters of decent play. But today, we sustained the discipline for four quarters,” said Cariaso.
“And more than anything, we’re really happy with the 71 we gave. We really focused on defending better and I think that translates a little bit in this game,” he added.
With Teng back, Cariaso got one piece that’s missing in the first five outings.
“He’s a big help,” he said of Teng.