ROLLING DYIP: Unscathed Terrafirma wins 3rd straight

Games tomorrow:

(Smart Araneta Coliseum)

5:15 p.m. --- TNT vs Rain or Shine

7:30 p.m. --- Macau vs Barangay Ginebra

It’s no 50-point night for Terrafirma import Ali Mubashar.

It doesn’t matter, though, as the Dyip zoomed to a third straight win at the expense of Blackwater, 99-88, for the solo lead in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup on Wednesday night at the Ynares Center-Antipolo.

The 7-footer Finnish behemoth had plenty of help from the locals as Terrafirma raced to a 3-0 win-loss record, dominating the game from start to finish.

Mubashar, who dropped 50 in an overtime win over Converge in the previous outing, has 22 points off 6-of-12 field goal shooting and grabbed 23 rebounds for the Dyip, who has to stave off a furious second quarter fightback by the Bossing after building a 20-point gap.

“We had a great start but we intend to go one-on-one in the second quarter when we’re up by 20. I think that’s the problem in a young team, sometimes they tend to veer away from the system,” Terrafirma coach Ronald Tubid said.

“So, we just see to it that they get back on the right direction, which is to run off the system and not go one-and-one. And of course, play defense,” he added.

Paolo Hernandez scored 20, Jerrick Ahanmisi added 18 points while Joseph Eriobu and Maverick Ahanmisi contributed 12 and 10 markers, respectively, for the Dyip.

Terrafirma went up, 40-20, with 9:28 left in the second canto but slowed down as Blackwater went on a tear to close in, 48-47, with 37 seconds left in the first half courtesy of a Sedrick Barefield jumper.

The Dyip managed to keep their hold of the driver’s seat and regained a double digit lead in the second half.

Big man Geo Chiu punctuated Terrafirma’s win with a two-handed dunk — his lone field goal of the match — for a 99-87 lead with 1:41 left in the match.

The game got chippy early in the fourth quarter with a shoving match involving Blackwater guard RK Ilagan and import Daniel Ochefu, andd Chiu, Mubashar and Maverick Ahanmisi.

Chiu pushed Ilagan, who almost fell on the big man in a prior play, at midcourt before Ochefu shoved the Dyip center from behind to back his teammate. Mubashar and Maverick Ahanmisi joined the fray before cooler heads prevailed to prevent further escalation with 10:17 left in the game.

Chiu was called for an offensive foul, and technical fouls for second motion were whistled on Ochefu, Mubashar and Maverick Ahanmisi.

The Bossing suffered a second straight defeat.

Barefield finished with 25 points while Ochefu had a terrible outing of just 11 points and seven rebounds. BJ Andrade got 10 for Blackwater.