WITH momentum on its side, rising Phoenix Petroleum easily dismantled woeful Mahindra, 114-104, for its second straight win in the 2016-17 Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City Sunday.
Veteran gunner JC Intal continued to shine for Phoenix, once again putting up a stellar performance with a season-high 24 points, including six triples on only nine shots, to go with seven rebounds off the bench to lead the charge.
“We had a good start and thankfully, we got the win. It took another team effort,” said Intal. “Sana magtuloy-tuloy na.”
Prized rookie Matthew Wright already had his breakout game in his young PBA career, also boosting the Fuel Masters with a career-high 21 points, spiked with five triples.
Also helping out solidly for the victor was improving big man Prince Caperal, who finished with a solid double-double of 12 points and 16 rebounds.
Phoenix climbed to a second-place tie with several teams with its 2-1 card.
On the contrary, the ailing Floodbuster remained winless and fell to 0-3 down the bottom of the ladder.
From the on-set until the final buzzer, Phoenix stamped its class on Mahindra with authority, taking the wire-to-wire win with ease.
The Fuel Masters zoomed right away to a 29-17 lead in the closing minutes of the opening frame to set the tone of the rout.
In the second canto, Phoenix broke the game wide open to breeze the rest of the way, taking a 60-43 cushion at the half.
The second was the same story as Phoenix kept the pounding until it formally clinched the victory.
Intal put an exclamation to Phoenix’s triumph by hammering down a two-handed slam in transition with over nine minutes remaining to give his squad a 30-point bubble, 105-75.
Mahindra then ended the game on a 29-9 run to finish and make the final tally more respectable.