source: PBA.ph
Barangay Ginebra squandered a 13-point halftime lead but outfought Talk n Text in a battle down the stretch, foiling the Tropang Texters’ sweep bid with a 102-97 victory Wednesday night in their KFC PBA Philippine Cup quarterfinals showdown at the Araneta Coliseum.
“It’s really hard to play Talk n Text. You have to find a way on both ends to beat them,” said coach Jong Uichico as they squeezed through to narrow their deficit to 1-2 in the best-of-five quarters series.
The Texters take their second crack at the semis clincher while the Kings go for the equalizer in Game Four in the same venue Friday. “We now have a semblance of a shot. Hopefully, we can get through again on Friday to force a sudden death,” said Uichico.
JC Intal, Eric Menk and Ronald Tubid played key roles as the Kings frustrated the Texters in their first attempt at closing out the series. Intal came through with a career-high 25 points on top of 10 rebounds, three assists and one steal while Eric Menk added 20 points, seven rebounds and three assists. Tubid, a contender for the Best Player of the Conference, struggled in the first three quarters but delivered when needed the most in the crunch. Jayjay Helterbrand chipped in eight points, three rebounds and the same number of assists.
Willy Wilson, Mark Caguioa and Cyrus Baguio also put in significant contributions but the Kings still had a hard time shaking off the gutsy Texters. The Kings eventually escaped with the win only on three missed three-pointers by Jimmy Alapag and Renren Ritualo in the closing seconds. Ginebra led by 13 at the half but TnT returned from the break smoking, racing ahead at 63-60. The two teams figured in a fierce battle to the finish.
The Kings could have sealed the win earlier if not for their poor free-throw shooting. Ginebra missed nine charities in the payoff period. Ginebra gave Talk n Text one final chance at forcing overtime after Intal muffed two foul shots with the Kings holding a three-point lead at 100-97 with 16.3 seconds to go.
Alas, Alapag misfired a trey. With eight points on perfect shooting, Celino Cruz led Ginebra’s strong second-quarter surge that gave them a 13-point spread, 56-43, at the turn.
JC Intal and Eric Menk carried the cudgels for the Kings early on as they took a 26-23 lead in the opening quarter. The Kings pulled away right in the opening half with a 51.4-percent shooting as against the Texters’ 35.4-percent clip. (SB)
The scores:
Ginebra 102 - Intal 25, Menk 20, Cruz 11, Wilson 9, Caguioa 9, Helterbrand 9, Baguio 8, Villanueva 5, Tubid 4, Salvacion 2, White 0.
Talk N' Text 97 - Cardona 18, De Ocampo R. 17, Alapag 16, Peek 12, Dillinger 10, Castro 10, Carey 10, De Ocampo Y. 2, Belasco 2, Escobal 0, De Guzman 0, Ritualo 0.
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