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BARANGAY Ginebra, with its entire starting crew scoring in twin digits, dominated Meralco the whole game with a 103-90 victory Wednesday night to seal a place in the upper half of the Oppo PBA Commissioner’s Cup playoffs at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Greg Slaughter shot 21 points, LA Tenorio shone at the point guard spot with 20 and the Gin Kings played with command all game to close out the elimination round with a 7-4 mark that could, depending on the result of tomorrow’s game, give Ginebra a shot at No. 2.
“We played well from start to finish,” Ginebra coach Tim Cone said. “We came out and hit shots and it kind of never stopped.”
With the win, Ginebra will be in a best-of-three series at worst, while putting Meralco’s bid at No. 1 on hold for the meantime.
The Bolts closed out with an 8-3 slate and could only bag top ranking in the event of a San Miguel Beer loss to Tropang TNT tomorrow.
Rookie Chris Newsome scored 23 points and Jared Dillinger 17 for Meralco, which drew the lowest offensive output from import Arinze Onuaku, who had just 10.
“It’s a big relief being in a best-of-three than needing twice-to-win,” Cone added after the win kept his Kings out of finishing seventh.
Ginebra can forge a tie for No. 2 if the Texters beat the Beermen, but it still wouldn’t be a guarantee of a playoff for the second twice-to-beat privilege since there will be multiple teams in that tie and the quotient system will be applied.
In the first game, rookie Mark Cruz came off the bench to play his PBA career game and extend the Hotshots’ campaign.
Cruz, Star’s third-string point guard who saw extended minutes when Mark Barroca sustained a nasty gash in an accidental play in the first period, hit 18 points to key an 86-73 victory over Mahindra that sent the Hotshots to the quarterfinals.
The pint-sized former Letran star in the NCAA hit all his three clutch triples in the fourth period as the Hotshots qualified as the eighth-ranked team in the first round of the playoffs where they would need to beat the No. 1 qualifier two straight times to make the Final Four.
“Even if we are at twice-to-win disadvantage, at least we’re there,” said Star coach Jason Webb, who was forced to go deeper in his point guard rotation after Barroca suffered cuts above and below his right eye after a collision with Karl Dehesa.
Ricardo Ratliffe scored 24 points and had 16 rebounds to pace Star, which continued to miss the injured and two-time Most Valuable Player James Yap.
Augustus Gilchrist, Dehesa and Aldrech Ramos scored 13 each for the Enforcers, who joined GlobalPort, Blackwater and Phoenix Petroleum on an early vacation.
Star finished with a 5-6 record but would qualify No. 8 even if NLEX loses to Alaska tomorrow. An Aces win would also give the Road Warriors a 5-6 record, but NLEX won over Star in this round and would win the tiebreak.
The scores:
First Game
STAR 86—Ratliffe 24, Cruz 18, Sangalang 12, Maliksi 11, Simon 8, Barroca 5, Melton 4, Pingris 3, Reavis 1, Pascual 0.
MAHINDRA 73—Dehesa 13, Gilchrist 13, Ramos 13, Canaleta 8, Yee 7, Revilla 5, Elorde 4, Guinto 4, Aguular 2, Bagatsing 2, Ballesteros 2, De Vera 0, Digregorio 0, Pinto 0.
Quarters: 32-21, 43-36, 53-51, 86-73
Second Game
GINEBRA 103—Slaughter 21, Tenorio 20, Caguioa 16, Aguilar 14, Jeffers 11, Ellis 10, Marcelo 4, Thompson 3, Mercado 2, Devance 2, Helterbrand 0, Cruz 0.
MERALCO 90—Newsome 23, Dillinger 17, Hodge 13, Hugnatan 11, Onuaku 10, Caram 5, FAundo 4, Buenafe Ro 3, Amer 2, Ferriols 2, Alapag 0, Bono 0, Buenafe Ry 0.
Quarters: 27-14, 51-39, 80-66, 103-90