From zero to hero.

LA Tenorio redeemed himself from a scoreless outing as he anchored Barangay Ginebra to a come-from-behind 94-87 win over Phoenix that snapped their two-game skid in the PBA Philippine Cup.

After laying a big fat egg in their 21-point loss to TNT, Tenorio waxed hot with 23 points off 6 triples to go with 5 assists and 4 rebounds against Phoenix, showing the way for Ginebra in its fightback from 19 points down.

It was exactly the performance Ginebra head coach Tim Cone expected from his old reliable guard, whom he has won six PBA titles with.

“I was not worried at all. I knew he was going to have a great night tonight and he did,” said Cone, not surprised anymore by the countless times Tenorio has risen to the occasion.

“He was the one that brought us back with his three-point shooting. He was awesome. Not just in terms of shooting but in terms of leadership. I was really impressed with LA tonight.”

“Again, I really believe in that kid. He’s got such a strong mentality. I can talk about him forever,” Cone added.

Phoenix led by 17 points after the opening quarter before Tenorio found his stride from long range, knocking down four three-pointers in the second period as Ginebra trimmed its deficit to 46-52 heading into the halftime.

Tenorio then sank his last two triples in the fourth salvo, where Ginebra outscored Phoenix, 25-11, to complete the comeback.

Cone said Tenorio reminds him of resident Ginebra import Justin Brownlee, who is “guaranteed” to have a spectacular performance after a bad game.

“I’ve always felt that with LA, always in my career. He doesn’t play great every night – nobody plays great every night,” Cone said.

“He’ll have really bad nights once in a while, but every time he has that, he will turn around and have a great night.”

Tenorio, though, cannot afford to have another lackluster showing as Ginebra has only two assignments left in the elimination round – against familiar foe Meralco and Alaska.

Ginebra is currently at eight place with a 4-5 record and needs to win both games to secure a seat in the quarterfinals. – Rappler.com