Ginebra closes 'On Tour' with win but loses Jeremiah Gray to knee injury
Barangay Ginebra closed out the PBA on Tour with a 91-85 victory over NLEX but it lost Jeremiah Gray in the process after going down with a nasty knee injury at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City on Sunday, July 30.
*Jeremiah Gray suffered what feared to be another ACL injury (PBA Images)
* The Kings rallied behind Gray and put up an inspired huge fourth quarter showing to turn back the Road Warriors and finish the pre-season exhibition tournament with a 6-5 record. Putting a huge dampener to the victory, however, was the injury of Gray who had to be stretchered off the floor after hurting his knee during a fastbreak play with 22.5 seconds left in the third frame. Gray tried to elude a trailing Anthony Semerad but fell down and immediately held his right knee. He was grimacing in pain as the team doctors attended him before he was brought to the nearest hospital. Von Pessumal picked up the slack, finishing with team-high 23 points – none bigger than the last three points he scored off an and-1 play, giving Ginebra an 89-80 lead with a little over two minutes left. Sidney Onwubere added 16 points while Donald Gumaru also stepped up with 13 points. The Kings were actually trailing only by two, 66-68, when Gray went down with the injury. Sean Anthony and Semerad provided a deadly one-two punch with 26 and 24 points apiece – all of which however were not enough as NLEX finished the preseason with a loss for a 5-6 record.