Japeth Aguilar is pushing 40. On Friday against the Blackwater Bossing, he played like a man much younger.
The 39-year-old many-time Gilas call-up tallied 11 points, 9 rebounds, and a game-high 5 blocks as he, along with Stephen Holt, helped set the tone of what turned out to be a 115-85 dismantling of the Bossing for Ginebra’s first win in the PBA Governors’ Cup.
Tim Cone Gives Japeth Aguilar His Flowers
That sensational effort certainly caught the eye of Tim Cone, who praised his big man unprompted in the postgame presser.
“By the way, I just want to mention, I thought Japeth had five blocks tonight. Those are all just really representative of the kind of defense we wanted to play,” Cone said about his trusted big man.
Japeth Aguilar was all that on Friday, for sure, and he did most of his damage in the first half, when Ginebra took the fight to Blackwater and built a 20-point halftime lead. In that first half, the veteran big man was already up to 11 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 blocks as he stood tall for the barangay.
Big Bounce Back
While the win was a big bounce back for the entire Ginebra squad, it was especially the case for Japeth Aguilar. Against Phoenix, the former Ateneo Blue Eagle played just 11 minutes, scored only 1 point, grabbed 3 boards, and didn’t record a single block. It was, by and large, a mediocre effort from the many-time champion.
On Friday, against Blackwater, he totally turned things around and served up a reminder that he can, as Cone put it, still do Japeth things.
It’s what Cone expects. It’s what Ginebra fans hope to get.
