MANILA, Philippines – Unheralded Philip Paniamogan erupted for 25 points spiked by seven three-pointers and the whole Mahindra team sizzled with a league fifth high 21 treys, torching Meralco, 105-92, to come out of the cellar in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum last night.
Riding the momentum of their Christmas Day come-from-behind triumph over Blackwater, the Floodbuster virtually shut the lights out of the venue en route to the big victory they later dedicated to team consultant Joe Lipa and his ailing wife Ging.
“I called our win over Blackwater miracle on Christmas Day. It gave us confidence that we could win for as long as we stay committed to the level of excellence in practice,” said Mahindra coach Chris Gavina.
“Meralco is definitely a contender. Their standing doesn’t reflect the capability of this team. But I really feel like we had our cylinders firing today. We want to dedicate this to coach Joe and his wife. Tita came out of the hospital today,” Gavina added.
The Floodbuster converted 21 of 47 three-point tries and hit at a 40-of-78 overall shooting on the way to the 13-point win that lifted the team to joint 10th place with the NLEX Road Warriors at 2-5.
The Bolts, the losing finalists in the last conference, dropped to the bottom of the chart at 2-6 despite a 28-point game by Reynel Hugnatan.
Meralco was dead last in the all-Filipino tourney last year before reaching the Top Four in the Commissioner’s Cup then going up further to second place in the Governors Cup.
Paniamogan, an undrafted player from Jose Rizal, had a 25-point explosion on 9-of-11 field shooting.
The six-foot guard, with a measly 2-of-13 three-point shooting in their first six games in the season, strung up eight straight field-goal baskets before missing his next shot.
“I really saw it coming from our Christmas Day win. He’s a consummate guy, somebody who can excel when called upon,” said Gavina of Paniamogan, signed by GlobalPort in 2015 after being left undrafted in the 2014 Rookie Draft.
Paniamogan averaged just 1.7 points in 10 games with the Batang Pier last season. In his first six games as a Floodbuster this season, he made 4.8 an outing.
Mahindra’s torrid shooting also saw Jason Deutchman (3-of-8), Russel Escoto (2-of-2), Mark Yee (2-of-3), Nico Salva (2-of-3), Michael Digregorio (2-of-7), Nico Elorde (1-of-2), Ryan Arana (1-of-4) and Alex Mallari (1-of-6) hitting from beyond the arc.
Alaska Milk played tough all throughout a 53-minute grind versus Star coming from a 19-day break, pulling off a 97-90 win to move up to joint third with TNT KaTropa and GlobalPort at 4-3 later in the night.