Kings pip Aces, grab fifth straight victory

MANILA—Willie Miller scored 16 points and Mark Caguioa had 14 as the duo led Barangay Ginebra to a 79-68 victory over Alaska for the Gin Kings’ fifth straight in the PBA Philippine Cup eliminations at the Araneta Coliseum. Rudy Hatfield had 12 rebounds for the Kings, who joined idle Talk ‘N Text in a second place tie at 6-2 after equaling the tournament’s longest winning streak.

The Aces got 17 points and 17 rebounds from Joe Devance and 12 points and nine assists from LA Tenorio but still dropped to 4-5. “We can’t think about streaks right now,” Ginebra coach Jong Uichico said. “We just need to take each game one game at a time and do the best we can and hopefully win enough games to get us a top two spot.” In the first game, Mac Cardona announced his return in a big way for Meralco by shooting seven of the B-Boys’ final eight points in a 95-93 victory over Air21. After sitting out the last two games because of a knee strain, Cardona went on to scatter 23 points to pace the B-Boys, who rose to 4-5 with their first winning streak. Meralco trailed by four with just over two minutes left, before Cardona took over for the B-Boys, who took the lead with 64 seconds left on nonchalantly taken triple for 92-91. After a miss by rookie Rabeh Al-Hussaini, Cardona capped his splendid offensive night by nailing a difficult fallaway jumper over the outstretched arms of Ronnie Matias for a three-point cushion with 23.2 ticks left. “Mac-Mac (Cardona) is back,” Meralco coach Ryan Gregorio proudly announced. “He has the ability to close out games in the right way and he did it again tonight.” Matias’ triple with 2:26 left and an Al-Hussaini  free throw 13 seconds later gave the Express that 91-87 lead. But Air21 couldn’t finish the job and  fell to its third straight setback in a 3-6 card for a ninth-place tie with idle Powerade. Al-Hussaini, the second overall choice in the Rookie Draft, paced the Express with 20 points with Ronjay Buenafe, who had a steal and a layup that made it 93-94 with under 16 seconds left, dropped 16 markers. Hans Thiele, the undrafted rookie that Meralco acquired from Barako Bull, had 16 points, including the B-Boys’ final free throw off a foul by Nonoy Baclao. Air21 still had a chance, but the pesky Meralco defense broke up the Express’ final offensive. The scores: First Game
MERALCO 95—Cardona 23, Thiele 16, Gamalinda 9, Ross 9, Espinas 9, Pacana 8, Aquino 8, Weinstein 5, Omolon 4, Menor 2, Belga 2.
AIR21 93—Al-Hussaini 20, Buenafe 17, Quinahan 15, Matias 11, Urbiztondo 7, Baclao 6, Najorda 6, Gonzales 6, Sharma 3, Arboleda 2, Guevarra 0, Arellano 0, Rodriguez 0.
Quarters: 20-20, 41-34, 74-66, 95-93.
Second Game
BARANGAY GINEBRA 79—Miller 16, Caguioa 14, Villanueva 12, Wilson 6, Tubid 6, Cortez 6, Helterbrand 6, Aquino 5, Menk 4, Hatfield 4, Mamaril 0.
ALASKA 68—De Vance 17, Tenorio 12, Thoss 10, Eman 8, Dela Cruz 8, Baguio 7, Borboran 4, Custodio 2, Robinson 0, Hugnatan 0. 
Quarters: 18-16, 34-32, 54-56, 79-68