Vroman, Caguioa shine for Gins; Petron triumphs

ANTIPOLO—Jackson Vroman was good as billed working in limited minutes and Mark Caguioa played like a second import as Barangay Ginebra ripped Powerade, 105-96 Sunday night, to grab solo second place in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup eliminations at the Ynares Center here.

Vroman gave the Gin Kings a solid inside threat that opened up the perimeter, and the locals exploited this with Caguioa finishing with 31 points as Ginebra opened up its “hell week” by rising to 3-1 overall.

It was actually Ginebra’s third straight win after a tournament-opening loss, but this was the best that the Kings looked, a fact echoed by coach Siot Tanquingcen.

“Being a player, if you see that your import is doing well, the level of play of the locals is raised,” said Tanquingcen. “Not to take anything away from Chris (Alexander, their first import), he brought us wins.

“But we always look for ways to improve the team,” explained Tanquingcen on their decision to sign the 6-foot-10 Vroman, a naturalized Lebanese who is a veteran in the Asian scene.

Petron Blaze also roared to a third straight win after getting 34 points from Arwind Santos in a

110-103 victory over Rain or Shine.

The Boosters improved to 3-2 and practically eliminated the Elasto Painters, who joined idle Meralco at the bottom of the standings at 1-4.

Ginebra returns to the floor on Wednesday against Meralco before taking a rest on Friday and battling powerhouse B-Meg on Sunday.

“This is hell week for us because we have two tough games coming up,” Tanquingcen said.

“Teams are so bunched up (in the standings) that’s why it would be very difficult.”

Vroman scored 11 points in the first period and finished with 19 after sitting out majority of the second and fourth periods. But he was very intense when he was on the floor, finishing with 12 rebounds, five blocks and four assists in just 35 minutes.

His biggest play came at the height of a long scoreless spell by the Kings, when he chased down Gary David’s fastbreak attempt that allowed Ginebra to keep control.

Ginebra opened up leads of as many as 18 points even with Vroman cooling his heels on the

bench early in the fourth period as John Wilson nailed a triple and Enrico Villanueva completed a three-point play off Doug Kramer with 10:44 left for 86-68.

The Kings were never really threatened from there, with the Tigers coming to within 84-93, 3:48 left, after a Marcio Lassiter basket.

Caguioa then topped a super scoring night with two straight baskets in a 31-second span before rookie Dylan Ababou, benefitting from a Caguioa steal, put that outcome beyond doubt by scoring on a two-handed slam for 101-88 with 2:10 left.

Caguioa scored 16 of his total in the breakaway third period as the Kings peeled away from a 49-48 halftime count to eventually deal the Tigers a second straight defeat.

Starting point guard Mike Cortez finished with 15 points and Ababou had 10, while David, despite going scoreless in the third period, still paced the Tigers with 23, marking just the second time in the last 18 Powerade games that he failed to hit at least 24.

Lassiter and JV Casio added a combined 27 points but still couldn’t save the Tigers from going down to 2-2.

The scores:

First Game

BARANGAY GINEBRA 105—Caguioa 31, Vroman 19, Cortez 15, Ababou 10, Hatfield 7, Villanueva 6, Wilson J. 5, Helterbrand 5, Raymundo 5, Mamaril 2, Labagala 0.

POWERADE 96—David 23, Lassiter 19, Casio 18, Jones 13, Kramer 10, Vanlandingham 6, Anthony 5, Lingganay 2, Calimag 0, Adducul 0, Crisano 0

Quarters: 29-22, 49-48, 80-66, 105-96

Second Game

PETRON 110—Santos 34, Cabagnot 24, Fazekas 22, Yeo 15, Ildefonso 7, Agustin 2, Reyes 2, Miranda 2, Tugade 2, Miranda 0.

RAIN OR SHINE 103—Crews 41, Buenafe 11, Chan 10, Quinahan 10, Lee 9, Norwood 8, Belga 4, Crews 3, Arana 3, Uyloan 2, Tang 2, Matias 0, Jaime 0, Ibanes 0.

Quarters: 33-26, 57-51, 91-77, 110-103