Ginebra avoids 0-3 hole, dumps San Miguel

Ginebra’s Chris Ellis posterizes San Miguel’s Nelbert Omolon. PBA Images/Nuki Sabio

MANILA, Philippines — Mark Caguioa smiled and exchanged laughs with LA Tenorio in the last few minutes of the fourth quarter — something diehard Barangay Ginebra fans haven’t seen for a while.

Caguioa and the rest of the Kings had reasons to smile about as they finally won, 95-82, at the expense of the San Miguel Beermen in the 2015 PBA Commissioner’s Cup Sunday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Kings improved to 1-2 and sent the Beermen, who are eyeing to win a second straight title after being crowned Philippine Cup champions just over a couple of weeks ago, to a 0-2 start.

“I think did we did the right thing, the things we do in practice we’re able to do tonight,” said Ginebra head coach Ato Agustin in Filipino. “Even our defense was good.”

“We’re now confident about ourselves because we played good defense and offense,” said Mark Caguioa, the team’s heart and soul, after finishing with 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field. “[Before] it’s as if we’re waiting for a big deficit before we come back.”

Pulling away in the fourth quarter, Caguioa had his shot erased by San Miguel’s athletic import Ronald Roberts Jr., who chased him down. With Ginebra already on its way to its first win after beginning the conference with a pair of losses, Caguioa smiled as he fell victim to Roberts, who had all of his five blocks in the fourth quarter.

Michael Dunigan finally played to his capabilities with 29 points and 13 rebounds for Ginebra, which had 16 points off fastbreak plays.

“Our running game showed in this game,” said Agustin.

“We’re now able to see what he can do,” Caguioa said of Dunigan, whom he claimed wasn’t his old self during the Kings first two games. “Now, he’s making up for that loss especially with today’s game.”

Greg Slaughter added 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field as he and reigning MVP June Mar Fajardo went toe-to-toe in a clash of two of the league’s best big men today. Fajardo had one of his worse games offensively with nine points on just 3-of-9 shooting but he did have 13 rebounds and four blocks.

Forward Arwind Santos and starting guard Alex Cabagnot couldn’t find the mark as well as both combined for just 6-of-27 from the field. The Beermen as a whole shot 37% from the field for the second straight time. They missed 66 out of their 89 attempts in a shocking 88-78 loss to Kia last Wednesday.

“We should start with a defensive mentality because eventually the offense will come,” said Caguioa.

San Miguel Beer led briefly, 62-61, on a 3-pointer by Roberts with 4:09 left in the third quarter. But it was all Ginebra after that.

The Kings went on a 9-0 run capped by a triple by Tenorio at the tail end of the third quarter before Caguioa stretched the lead back to double digits, 82-71, with 7:51 remaining. Tenorio hit a jumper that sealed the game, 91-77, with 3:02 left.

Roberts showed drastic improvement from his first game and notched game-highs 32 points and 14 rebounds.