B-MEG BARGES INTO FINALS

B-MEG'S road to redemption is wide open.

The Llamados rode the able back of Denzel Bowles during spirited spurts in handily beating Barangay
Ginebra 108-84 Tuesday and advancing to the PBA Commissioner's Cup finals at the Smart Araneta
Coliseum.

Bowles finished with gamehighs of 34 points and 14 rebounds and totally outplayed the Jackson
Vroman-led Kings frontline in leading B-Meg to a 3-1 victory in the best-of-five semifinals duel.

Joe Devance, James Yap, PJ Simon and Marc Pingris also played key roles but it was the 6-foot-10,
22-year-old Bowles who drew the most praise from Llamados coach Tim Cone.

"A young kid like that, responding the way he did, grabbing every rebound making every tough play,"
relished Cone. "I thought that's what really inspired us."

Dylan Ababou, Vroman, Mike Cortez, KG Canaleta and Jayjay Helterbrand tried their best and did
succeed in giving Ginebra the good start it needed to follow up its 88-79 victory just last Sunday.

But all faded in the face of B-Meg's determined and prolonged charge, with Ababou picking up his
sixth foul just 41 seconds into the fourth period with Vroman following suit in the final 5:56 mark.


As a result, the Kings would wind up either third or fourth, depending on the outcome Wednesday of
the other deciding match in the semifinal pairing between Talk N Text and Barako Bull.

For Cone, his 24th finals stint and the Purefoods/B-Meg franchise's 22nd is just a culmination of
the lessons the team learned from a sorry fifth-place finish in the Philippine Cup, when it emerged
from the eliminations as the top seed, only to be felled by No. 8 Powerade in the quarterfinals.

"When I came into this team we talked about growth and the Powerade thing... that would help us
grow," said Cone.

"That motivated us for this conference and we learned not to take anything for granted."

Ginebra should have had the same mind-set after letting an early 25-11 lead slip away.

B-Meg's charge let up a bit and Ginebra managed to whittle what was once a 59-80 deficit to just
73-86, early in the fourth period.

But Bowles quickly responded with back-to-back baskets and the rout was in full swing again.

Cone may be cherishing his own shot for a 14th title overall, but not after blaming himself for
B-Meg's bad start to the game.

"I had this brilliant idea to go zone," he related. "I thought by giving them something new we would
catch them by surprise. But they started making their shots. I was really embarrassed."

Working mostly behind Bowles, the Llamados worked their way back and used a prolonged run that is
equal to the second-most in franchise history in taking the half 58-46 and the game's control for
good.

Bowles scattered 12 of his points during a 19-0 assault from a 39-44 count, and the Llamados went
into the fourth canto with an 86-71 spread.

Ababou wound up with 17 points with Vroman adding 14 and seven. For the fifth time in the duel, the
6-10 naturalized Lebanese failed to score in the fourth. (NC)

The scores:

B-MEG 108 - Bowles 34, Devance 18, Yap 16, Simon 11, Pingris 7, Barroca 5, Intal 5, Villanueva 5, De
Ocampo 4, Reavis 2, Urbiztondo 1, Acuna 0, Gaco 0.

GINEBRA 84 - Ababou 17, Vroman 14, Cortez 13, Canaleta 12, Helterbrand 10, Hatfield 8, Raymundo 5,
Labagala 3, Mamaril 2, Wilson 0, Villanueva 0.

Quarters: 24-31, 58-46, 86-71, 108-84

Source: http://www.pba.ph/news/entry/1533