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Playing an extraordinary third quarter, Barangay Ginebra on Friday night went on to bamboozle NLEX, 106-94, to clinch a playoff berth in the PBA Governors’ Cup on a night the Gin Kings celebrated with their biggest local star since the era of the man who gave birth to the never-say-die spirit.
Mark Caguioa scored 16 points and joined the exclusive 10,000-point club, helping the team plug the holes made by several injured stars as the Gin Kings won for the fourth straight game to rise to 6-1 at Smart Araneta Coliseum and reclaim the solo lead.
“We can now go into (the) Meralco (game) clear-minded and not focus on that anymore,” Ginebra coach Tim Cone said as his charges enter the homestretch of their schedule starting Sunday against the Bolts at Sta. Rosa Multipurpose Sports Complex in Laguna.
“We’ll start making him work on his next 10,000,” Cone added, even saying that Caguioa “can play until he’s 50. He’s just that kind of a special player.”
Ginebra peeled away from the Road Warriors at the start of the second half, dropping 40 points in the third period before blowing NLEX off the floor in the fourth, with the latter half of the payoff quarter turning into garbage time where Cone got the chance to put Caguioa back in for the final two points he needed to make history.
And that was a bad stretch of basketball that got him calling for time and reminding his players of the task at hand, “and that is to win the game,” he said.
The loss was the first in two games for NLEX since Yeng Guiao returned from national duty and the Road Warriors dropped to 4-5 overall.