BARAKO BULL jumped to an early big lead and never looked back to beat Blackwater, 105-90, for its second straight win in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Governors’ Cup on Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Liam McMorrow won his front-line battle with Marcus Douthit as he led the Energy with 23 points on 10-of-17 shooting from the field to go along with his 15 rebounds.
“I thought we have done a good job in respecting our opponent. Even in our practice, viewing and scouting, I just reminded them we cannot just go there and they’ll gonna lay down and give us the ball,” Barako Bull Head Coach Koy Banal said.
“It [2-0 start] is really a confidence builder, getting this will give us much confidence in our campaign this conference,” he added.
The win shoved Barako Bull in a tie with GlobalPort for the early lead with a 2-0 win-loss mark.
Carlo Lastimosa came off the bench for the Energy and poured in 18 points, while JC Intal had another solid showing for the team with 17 markers.
Douthit paced the Elite with 21 points and 13 rebounds, while JP Erram, Brian Huruela and Bambam Gamalinda each had 12 markers for Blackwater, which dropped to 0-3 in the team standings.
Barako Bull, which beat NLEX in its first game, 101-96, erected an early 32-11 lead after the first period before settling for a 55-42 halftime advantage.
The Energy padded the margin to 87-65 entering the fourth, as the Elite failed to come up with a serious run to absorb their third straight loss in the tournament.
Image credits: PBA image