Dyip get over hump, stun tropa

MANILA, Philippines — Third time’s a charm as Terrafirma got it done after back-to-back heartbreakers.

Triggered by the vintage outing of Stanley Pringle in the stretch, the Dyip finally broke through in the PBA Governors’ Cup with an 84-72 reversal over the quarterfinals-bound TNT Tropang Giga last night at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

Pringle, 37, dropped 13 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter that revved up a searing 34-15 closeout that brought the Dyip home after blowing their previous chances and yielding to Magnolia (98-99) and Converge (99-100) via game-winners.

“We had two close games. We should’ve won those two games but we stayed positive, kept pushing and we came out with a win,” said Pringle, who stepped up to the plate after import Antonio Hester took an early exit at the 6:55 of the fourth due to a hand injury.

John Cardel’s injury-hit charges celebrated their first victory of the season-opening conference after a woeful 0-8 start, their first in 19 meetings with TNT since the 2016 Governors’ Cup.

Despite the loss, the Tropang Giga (7-2) stayed secure in their place in the crossover semifinals with the No. 1 seeding in Group A safely tucked.

“Everybody got frustrated as we kept losing. But after a while, we were just like, hey, we’re losing, we might as well have fun. Keep working hard but at the same time, have fun. You know, be positive. And the coaches led by coach John helped us with that,” said Pringle, who backed up Hester’s 22-point, 10-rebound outing.

Cardel took pride in the fight shown by the Dyip despite the absence of Hester in the endgame and injured aces Christian Standhardinger and Juami Tiongson throughout.

“Nine, 10 players lang ako so I keep them positive. I told the boys na maglalaro sila and they have to be ready. Hangga’t may games tayo, let’s try to get our first win,” said Cardel, who also drew solid supporting games from Louie Sangalang (10 points) and Andreas Cahilig (8).

The Dyip unleashed four triples in the final canto and clutch layups off penetration from Pringle in making their breakaway after falling behind by as many as nine in the third.

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (25-11) and RR Pogoy (23) paced TNT, which saw the end of its five-game run.

Meanwhile, Magnolia (4-4) seeks to finish off NorthPort (3-5) today at NAS in their virtual race for the fourth and last quarterfinal berth in Group A.

Game time is set at 7:30 p.m. with the Batang Pier going all-Filipino following the exit of Venky Jois due to Achilles tendon rupture.