MANILA, Philippines—With Mark Caguioa delivering whatever was needed, Barangay Ginebra survived Petron Blaze, 91-89, Friday night to formally make the quarterfinal round of the PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Caguioa had a basket and the assist to a Willie Wilson layup that broke the game’s last tie at 89 as the Gin Kings snapped the Boosters’ six-game winning streak and climbed to 6-5 overall to advance to the playoffs outright.
“We wanted the ball in Mark’s hands and he was smart enough to see the open guy (Wilson),” Ginebra coach Siot Tanquingcen said of the play in the final 27.1 seconds after Alex Cabagnot had knotted the count at 89 with a triple.
“We’re still in the bottom and this is a crucial stretch for us,” Tanquingcen said of his Kings’ remaining three assignments. “We are in a stretch that we can go really good or really bad.
“The good part is that we have our destiny in our hands.”
Caguioa finished with 22 points, all but two of them coming in the final three periods, and three others wound up with 12 or better. The Kings now go into a killer stretch of their schedule in a bid to make the upper half of the standings in the playoffs.
The Boosters lost for just the fourth time in 13 games and dropped to second in the standings behind idle Talk ‘N Text’s 8-3 record.
Cabagnot scored a career-high 28 points built around a 6-of-7 clip from beyond the arc. Arwind Santos added 14 like Dennis Miranda.
Meanwhile, Meralco got huge plays on both ends from Gabby Espinas down the stretch and repeated against Powerade, 100-98, in the first game.
Espinas scored his four fourth quarter points inside the final 4:35 and had two critical blocks in one Powerade possession that sealed the Bolts’ eighth win in 13 games that kept Meralco in the upper half of the standings.
The Tigers saw an end to a two-game run and dropped to 5-8 overall, still within a win of formally clinching a quarterfinal slot for the first time in the last eight conferences.
Meralco had defeated the Tigers, 98-96 last Nov. 16 when Mac Cardona hit the marginal basket in the dying seconds.
The scores:
First Game
MERALCO 100—Mercado 23, Cardona 17, Espinas 14, Lanete 9, Macapagal 9, Hugnatan 6, Yee 5, Taulava 5, Borboran 4, Isip 4, Omolon 4, Timberlake 0.
POWERADE 98—David 25, Kramer 16, Anthony 14, Casio 13, Lassiter 9, Vanlandingham 7, Lingganay 6, Adducul 6, Cruz 2, Crisano 0, Antonio 0.
Quarters: 24-22, 49, 54, 76-76, 100-98
Second Game
GINEBRA 91—Caguioa 22, Tubid 16, Villanueva 14, Cortez 12, Intal 8, Wilson W. 6, Mamaril 6, Canaleta 5, Labagala 2, Wilson J. 0.
PETRON 89—Cabagnot 28, Santos 14, Miranda 14, Reyes 11, Ildefonso 8, Yeo 7, Tugade 7, Doruelo 0, Agustin 0, Baclao 0, Sharma 0.
Quarters: 20-16, 43-37, 71-65, 91-89