Hot-shooting Ginebra hammers listless NorthPort

MANILA, Philippines — Guard Jayson David took the rare chance of being in the regular roster, dropping a career-high 25 points on a near perfect shooting as Barangay Ginebra beat NorthPort, 131-106 black and blue in a lopsided PBA Season 49 Philippine Cup match on Wednesday night at the Philsports Arena.

Reactivated a day before the game following Ginebra's decision to relegated veteran star LA Tenorio to the unrestricted free agent list, David sparkled by making all for of his three-point shots, and going 8-of-9 from the floor overall.

The former Lyceum Pirate also grabbed nine rebounds, three assists and two steals in 21 minutes of play on the way to earning Best Player of the Game honors.

"I'm so happy I was brought back to the lineup," said a beaming David, selected 20th overall by Ginebra in the PBA's 2022 Rookie Draft. "My family have been praying for this and for me, I just tried to be ready in cause I get a call up from coach. And thank God my shots went in."

Rookie RJ Abarrientos led Ginebra's wire-to-wire win with 27 points, lacing his fiery offense with 6-of-7 triples, to go along with eight assists.

Stephen Holt scored 17 points, Japeth Aguilar and Troy Rosario each added 15, while Jamie Malonzo had a double-double of 14 and 12 boards for the Gin Kings, who bounced back from a stinging 104-93 loss to the San Miguel Beermen and improved to 2-1.

NorthPort dropped its third straight game and fell to 1-3 overall.

The Batang Pier again missed the services of star wingman Arvin Tolentino.

William Navarro led NorthPort with 19 points, Sidney Onwubere added 17 while Avan Nava had 14.