RICCI RISES: Rivero drops 40, helps Fuel Masters halt Dyip

Ricci Rivero exploded with a career-high 40 points to anchor Phoenix’s 133-105 rout of erstwhile unbeaten Terrafirma in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup Wednesday at the Ynares Center-Antipolo.

The shifty guard was lights out from the three-point area, hitting 7-of-9 triples in an efficient night as the Fuel Masters tied their victim with a 3-1 win-loss record.

“Well, credit to Ricci, I think he hit five threes in the first half. (He) was hot to end the second quarter and that was really big for us to get the lead,” Phoenix head coach Charles Tiu said.

“I think as a team we shot 19 threes. Ricci had seven. But everybody, from Francis Escandor, Prince Caperal, it’s a team effort. But, yeah, the shooting was good. I wish we could shoot like this every game,” added the first-year mentor.

Rivero shot 14-of-22 from the field and filled his stats line with eight assists, six rebounds and three steals for Phoenix, which led by as many as 32 pints in the game that was expected to be tight but turned into a one-sided affair.

“We started really strong. We were running up and down. We were defending. We were making the most out of their misses,” said Rivero, who already had 21 points in the first half behind a perfect 5-of-5 three-point clip.

The Fuel Masters broke the game open after protecting just a 10-point lead in the first half with a huge 40-27 third quarter barrage.

Escandor, who also had a good offensive night with 20 points, gave Phoenix its biggest lead, 129-97, with 2:38 left after nailing a four-pointer off a Rivero assist.

James Dickey III took a backseat in scoring but still produced a double-double of 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting and grabbed 13 rebounds for the Fuel Masters, who recovered from a sorry loss to Meralco.

Evan Nelle had 14 markers and Prince Caperal added 11 points for Phoenix, which forced the Dyip to commit 17 turnovers it converted to 22 turnover points.

Terrafirma, which had its best start after winning three straight, led by nine points early in the second quarter before the Fuel Masters erased it with a sizzling run behind Rivero’s hot hands.

Phoenix’s defense held down Dyip import Ali Mubashar to just 13 points on 4-of-13 field goal shooting.

“Well, our focal point was -- our game plan was really to find a way to stop the import. We saw what he did with his 50-plus performance earlier in the conference. We know how good of a player he is. So, we found a way to contain him,” Tiu said.

“Credit to guys like (Matthew) Daves. We started him, gave him a chance. His energy was great. Of course, our import James Dickey was great defensively. We weren’t able to stop Jerrick Ahanmisi. He still had his numbers but at least we’re able to stop their import.”

Mubashar pulled down 17 rebounds but committed six turnovers.

Jerrick Ahanmisi finished with 37 points on 15-of-24 shooting from the field.