Shorthanded Terrafirma turns to Pringle in stunner over TNT

MANILA, Philippines – With Terrafirma bitten by the injury bug, the Dyip relied on old reliable Stanley Pringle to finally break through in the PBA Governors’ Cup, at the expense of the league-leading TNT Tropang Giga.

Terrafirma on Thursday night stunned the defending champions, 84-72, to finally tally a win for the first time in nine games. 

The squad was missing main guns Juami Tiongson and Christian Standhardinger. Import Antonio Hester also exited from the game in the fourth quarter, with the Dyip leading by two, 66-64, due to a hand injury. 

Despite this, the 37-year-old Pringle — who himself was hobbled by a hurt knee — came up big when the team needed it most. 

He scored 13 points in the fourth quarter, including 10 since Hester exited the game, as he just hit shot after shot with Terrafirma clamping down on defense.
The guard finished with 18 points, five rebounds and two assists on 6-of-11 shooting.

“Well, I was a little hurt this game. My knee was acting up a little bit with all the games back-to-back,” Pringle told reporters after the game.

“The guys stepped it up and I just came in at the end and played hard and in the end, we got the win,” he added. 

Pringle, who was traded from Barangay Ginebra in the offseason, said that he is already far from his form with the then-Globalport Batang Pier, but the confidence Coach Johnedel Cardel gives him pushes him to be better. 

“Well, definitely not in that form but Coach John lets me play my game. He was there with me at Globalport too, so he knows I’m getting older. He notices it, but he keeps pushing me so I told him I’m giving it everything I got,” he said. 

The Dyip came from back-to-back heartbreakers. They lost two consecutive games against the Magnolia Hotshots and the Converge FiberXers through game-winners. 

“We all stuck together… At first everybody gets frustrated. Then after a while, we kept losing. And we were just like, 'hey were losing.' We might as well have fun and keep working hard,” he said.

"Coach John kept talking to us. We had two close games, and we should have won those games. But we stayed positive, kept pushing in practice until we came up with the win,” he added. 

For his part, Cardel said that despite him playing just nine to 10 players, he is keeping the spirits of Terrafirma high. 

“Nine players, they’re still fighting and especially even though Hester was injured a while ago, we are still positive.” 

The Dyip, already eliminated from quarterfinal contention, will face the Meralco Bolts next on Saturday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.