MANILA, Philippines – Better known for his thunderous slam dunks and vicious blocked shots, Ginebra forward Japeth Aguilar showed off another facet of his game on Christmas Day when he torched the Star Hotshots for five three-pointers in the "Manila Clasico."

Aguilar made all five of his three-point attempts and finished with a career-high 32 points and 12 rebounds in their 86-79 win over their rivals. He still had his dunks and blocks, but the lasting image of the game was Aguilar draining triple after triple as Star repeatedly left him wide open from beyond the arc.

Heading into the game, Aguilar had taken only one triple all conference – and missed it. He has shot only 24% from beyond the arc throughout his career.

"This is one of those moments in my basketball career na never did I expect," Aguilar admitted after the game. "Five out of five from the three-point line."

"At first, I was hesitant pa nga sa three points eh," he revealed. "But when I took the first shot, it went in, and I was happy. I took the second shot, it went in again, and on my third shot, I was thinking of just passing, but when I took it and pumasok, I'm like, okay, this is good."

• READ: Ginebra wins Christmas Clasico anew

His offensive explosion was all the more surprising because Aguilar entered the game wanting to focus on the defensive end of the floor as well as on rebounding.

"(Coach Tim Cone) wants me to be an anchor on defense," he said. "Laging example, sina Marc Pingris, sina Rafi Reavis (of Star), kasi sobrang committed defenders sila. Lagi kong ginagawang benchmark sila."

Aguilar may have been surprised at his shooting performance, but Cone was not. After all, the multi-titled mentor believes Aguilar's shooting stroke runs in the family.

"If you remember, I coached (Japeth's dad), Peter," Cone said. "And Peter was like, the best shooting big man I've ever seen. So when I first saw Japeth, he looked exactly the same. Same form, same everything."

"Japeth has great form and great ability to be that kind of player that can shoot shots like that. His dad was lights out. So I'm not surprised by it," he added.

Cone believes that Aguilar's improving three-point stroke is a weapon that Ginebra can keep using and developing, though he also maintained that they should not have to "live by it."

"But," Cone added, "that is a nice weapon to keep."

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