Unlikely Ginebra-Meralco title showdown looms

WITH scrambling wins, semifinal underdogs Barangay Ginebra and Meralco forged closer to a first ever title showdown in the PBA Governors’ Cup.

The Gin Kings first nosed out the defending champion San Miguel Beermen behind a buzzer-beating jumper by Japeth Aguilar, 97-96, to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series which the Bolts later matched by nailing a second straight victory over the TNT KaTropa in their half of the Final Four duels pitting sister teams.

Reynel Hugnatan hit five triples in six attempts and the Bolts, who barely made it as No. 4 in the eliminations, posted a franchise record 17 treys in a 119-113 conquest of the KaTropa, who dominated the single round elimination with an overall 10-1 win-loss record.

“We caught TNT on our good night,” said Meralco coach Norman Black, who gave TNT the 2012-2013 Philippine Cup title before taking over as coach when the Bolts joined the league as the second team of the MVP Group of Companies in 2013.

“We played very, very well and matched all they did offensively and defensively,” added Black.

TNT, now under coach Jong Uichico who piloted Barangay Ginebra to its last title in the 2007-2008 Fiesta Conference, opened the series with an impressive 113-95 victory before the Bolts came back with a 100-91 decision.

The Ginebra-SMB clash was tightly fought with the Gin Kings hacking out a 115-108 win despite a rare scoreless game by its crack guard LA Tenorio. Atoning for his shooting slump, Tenorio gave Ginebra a shot at a second straight victory in Game 2 with a three-pointer that cut SMB’s lead to 93-92 with 20.4 seconds left. But SMB import Elijah Millsap got away with a dunk and his Ginebra counterpart Justin Brownlee, harassed by two defenders, missed the potential game-tying triple at the buzzer.

Game 3 was again touch-and-go with LA again giving Ginebra a 95-94 lead with 1:28 left. A jumper by Arwind Santos with 44 seconds to go shifted the lead back to SMB, 96-95, but the lanky forward proved to be the eventual goat when he later blew a fastbreak play that restored possession to Ginebra.

With coach Tim Cone refusing to call for time, the Gin Kings groped for the winning shot three times before Sol Mercado found Aguilar free just inside the three-point area on the left side and the slam dunk artist responded this time with the killer jump shot.

Ginebra was tying to reach its first final since the 2012-2013 Commissioner’s Cup won by Alaska at press time. Meralco takes its turn at a title crack tomorrow.

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In another Final Four showdown, this time in the NCAA, the Arellano University Chiefs stormed to a second championship stint in three seasons with a 92-80 romp over Mapua last Friday.

But the Chiefs will have to wait until Tuesday to find out their title foes in a best-of-three series after Perpetual Help upended the heavily favored and No. 1 semifinalist San Beda, 87-83.

The Altas, who lost in three straight semifinal duels with the Lions from 2012, broke through this time with Gab Dagangon firing a career-high 27 points.

Now the Altas get the chance to become the first No. 4 seed to oust the top semifinalist since the Final Four format was introduced in 1998. San Beda, which lost to Letran last year, is gunning for an 11th straight finals stint.

The Chiefs, who joined the league in 2009, made it three-in-a-row over Mapua this year. But they have yet to beat the Lions this season.