It has been a few years since Blackwater has made the PBA playoffs.
The Bossing’s last playoff run was back in the Season 47 Philippine Cup, where the team lost to San Miguel in the quarterfinals.
Since then, it has been seven conferences where the Bossing have failed to reach the quarterfinal round.
On Friday evening, big man Christian David said he wants to end that playoff drought for the Bossing, as he steered Blackwater to a dominant 107-87 win over the Terrafirma Dyip to usher in the PBA Season 50 Philippine Cup.
David had 24 points and seven rebounds against the Dyip, as he had a game-high +- of +31. He shot 8-of-17 from the field and had a perfect 4-of-4 from the free throw line.
After the game, the third-year big man said he aims to win more with the Bossing.
‘Just you know, try to lead this team to more wins. I felt like last year it was kind of disappointing. I felt like we felt confident going into last year,’ David, the second overall pick of the PBA Season 48 draft, told reporters following the win at the Ynares Center in Montalban.
‘This year I want to you know take take this team to the playoffs so that’s a goal,’ he added.
In last season’s Governors’ Cup, the Bossing almost made the playoffs. However, their inferior head-to-head record against the NLEX Road Warriors dropped them to fifth place of Group B, where only the top four punched a ticket to the quarterfinals.
They could not replicate that finish, though, as they won just three games in the Commissioner’s Cup and two games in the Philippine Cup.
But now, the Bossing had a strong start in the All-Filipino Cup in a game where super scorer Sedrick Barefield did not play.
In Barefield’s place, RK Ilagan provided the spark with 22 points and 10 rebounds, to go with four steals and three assists.
Rookie Dalph Panopio had an impressive debut with 13 markers, six boards, four dimes, two steals and a block, while Abu Tratter had 12 points and eight rebounds.
It was a close game through the half, with Blackwater leading by just eight, 50-42, after the first two quarters.
But the Bossing broke the game wide open in the third quarter, as a 3-pointer by Richard Escoto gave them a 23 point spread, 79-56.
The Dyip tried to storm back, cutting the deficit to 12 multiple times, but it was the nearest they got to.
Blackwater head coach Jeff Cariaso, for his part, said that while they are happy to get the win, they still have a lot of improvements to do.
‘You want to always try to start on a good note and today was a good first step. There’s still lots to learn, lots to improve on but you know we’re happy that we were able to do enough tonight to get a win,’ he stressed.
Panopio echoed this, as he tipped his hat to his teammates.
‘Masarap po yung feeling kasi we won and I want to appreciate the coach and the teammates for helping you know like being together and working this out. I feel like yeah like Coach Jeff said like we got a lot of things to do still improve on and work on and definitely, we’re gonna do that,’ he said.
“We’ll go back to practice and fix things that we didn’t do today. I think you know I think we just gotta do better next time. We can’t, we can’t just be satisfied about this game, this win. We gotta keep working and be hungry for the next games.’
New Terrafirma player Jerrick Ahanmisi powered the Dyip with 25 points and seven rebounds, while Paolo Hernandez had 19 markers. Louie Sangalang chipped in 12 points.
Terrafirma will have a quick turnaround as it takes on NLEX Sunday at the Ynares Antipolo, while Blackwater will face Meralco next Wednesday at the Big Dome.