Mula sa pagiging scoring champion hanggang sa pagiging PBA champion. Limang taon ang nakaraan mula nang sumampa siya sa pro league, mailap pa rin ang top prize para sa kanya, pero ngayon, sa wakas, natamo na niya ang pinakamalaking tagumpay sa basketball career niya sa Barangay Ginebra nang maghari ang tropa sa PBA Governor’s Cup.
“It’s a blessing,” tuwang-tuwang pahayag ni Stanley Pringle nang kumpletuhin ng Ginebra Kings ang 4-1 na kartada kontra Meralco Bolts sa bisa ng 105-93 na panalo sa harap ng napunong mga manonood ng MOA Arena. “I’m ready for another one,” aniya na lumabas sa PBA.ph sa panulat ni OL.
Sumampa si Pringle sa PBA league noong 2014 bilang top draft pick ng GlobalPort at agad na napansin ang husay sa paglalaro at nakuha ang scoring title noong 2018.
Mula noon mailap pa rin sa kanya ang suwerte para sa unang korona na inaasahan mula noong 2012 na tagumpay niya sa Asean Basketball League kontra Indonesia Warriors, bagamat ang Batang Pier ay nagawa pang makasampa sa semifinals (2015-2016 Philippine Cup, natalo sa Alaska, 1-4).
Pero nagbago ang lahat pagdating sa kalagitnaan ng 2019 nang lumipat ang NorthPort Fil-Am guard sa Ginebra kapalit ni Sol Mercado, Kevin Ferrer at Jervy Cruz. Nasubok siya sa bagong team sa huling 4-duel sa TNT pero natalo sa 1-4 kontra Terrence Jones-led squad.
Sumampa ang Gin Kings sa season-ender finals matapos talunin ang grand slam seeker na San Miguel sa quarters maging ang dating NorthPort team ni Pringle sa semis, 3-1. “Man, it’s just really difficult ( to win a PBA title), Top to bottom, I could see it really takes (efforts from) all, from management to coaching staff, to players, to ball boys,” aniya sa post game ng PBA finals Game 5. Ayon kay Ginebra coach Tim Cone, kakaiba ang laro ng team sa final campaign. “What do you say about Stanley? He’s the difference. He was the difference in this series that the one guy they had to pay attention to opened up things for Justin (Brownlee),” aniya.
“Stanley and that ability to get to open court and finish through traffic, nothing quiet gets the crowd going like that. And that’s just a huge lift for us when he does something like that. He lifts the whole team because that lifts the crowd and he does a lot more out there than you think- he rebounds, he defends, he’s good at making steals and he’s a great scorer and passer,” dagdag ni Cone.
Para kay Cone, lalong dumami ang fans ng Ginebra nang maglaro sa Kings si Pringle. “He’s really, really special and he took us to the next level. Stanley presence was very much felt in this five-game series,” aniya.
Samantala, si Japeth Aguilar ang bumanat para sa opensa at depensa sa finals, at ang kanyang lakas sa laro ang sinandigan ng Ginebra para sa title win.
Siya rin ang itinanghal na Most Valuable Player sa finals. Umiskor si Aguilar ng 25 points, nakagawa ng rebounds at naka-blocked ng 4 shots sa deciding game, 105-93.
Sa kabuuan, ang 32-anyos na taga-Sasmuan, Pampanga ay may averaged na 17.4 points at may 56.5% field-goal shooting sa title series, may 7 rebounds at 3.4 blocks. “I’m just really thankful. Nagpapasalamat talaga ako sa Panginoon, kasi any moment it could be (Meralco’s) game. We really had to dig deep,” saad ni Aguilar.
“Kelangan ko lang talagang mag-commit sa role ko. Defense talaga, very confident naman ako sa teammates ko, silang bahala sa offense.”
Samantala, muling natalo ang Meralco Bolts sa Barangay Ginebra sa Round 3 ng kanilang bakbakan sa PBA Governor’s Cup, bagamat gigil para sa titulo ang import na si Allen Durham. “Obviously I want a championship, it won’t matter who it’s against,” ani Durham, muling nag-runner-up sa ikatlong pagkakataon sa loob ng 4 na taon hawak ang ikatlong Best Import Award.
“We’ll go back to the gym, we’re gonna try our luck again, we’re gonna keep going until we get that breakthrough. I’m determined to win a championship with these guys. They’re grown to be my brothers, they deserve to get one, too. We’ll talk with management and stuff like that, obviously get some time pass. I’m definitely still hungry.”
Binati ni Durham ang Barangay Ginebra. “Ginebra they were the better team in this series. We definitely had opportunities in Game 1, opportunities in Game 3 and stuff that we just didn’t capitalize, we couldn’t get the 50/50 things so hats off to them; they played tough all the way, even in the game that we did win, they played tough until the final buzzer.”