Cola Tigers escaped with a one-point victory against the Magnolia Beverage Makers, 91-90, Wednesday night to force a deciding Game 3 in their 2008 PBA Fiesta Conference quarterfinals series on Friday. With three seconds left in the Tigers' shotclock, rookie Ronjay Buenafe drilled the winning basket - a long two-pointer from a pass by Nic Belasco who grabbed the offensive board off a miss by Alex Cabagnot. Cabagnot scored 17 points, 11 of them in the fourth period including three straight three-pointers to lead a balanced Coca-Cola offensive. In the first game, the Barangay Ginebra Kings arranged a best-of-seven semifinals series against the Red Bull Barakos, routing the Sta. Lucia Realtors, 113-85, at Ynares Center in Antipolo, Rizal province. The Kings used a balanced scoring attack to complete a 2-0 sweep of the import-less Realtors in their best-of-three quarterfinal series. Before the start of the game, the Sta. Lucia management let go of American import Lee Benson after he threatened not to play well for not getting his demand for a bigger paycheck. “He (Benson) was making so many demands,” said Realtors team manager Buddy Encarnado. “Actually it's okay to make demands, but when you try to threaten management of not playing because you didn't get something that you demanded, that's not right.” With the 6-foot-10 Benson sitting out the game, the Realtors could not match the firepower of the crowd-favorite Kings. Except for a brief spell in the first quarter, Ginebra never trailed in the one-sided game. Jayjay Helterbrand spearheaded the Kings' offense with 22 points while 7-foot import Chris Alexander knocked in 19 points, including the game's best play, a breakaway dunk off a Caguioa assist with eight minutes to go for a 92-65 Ginebra lead. Mark Caguioa, who exploded for 30 points in Game One, came off the bench to add 19 points, while Junthy Valenzula had 15 and Paul Artadi contributed a personal conference-high 12 points and a personal season-high 11 assists and six steals. Ginebra's lead ballooned to as much as 33 points, 101-68, with 6:09 remaining. Ginebra won the series opener, 92-90, last Sunday. The Kings' point production was conference-high (113) while the 28-point margin was the worst this season for the Realtors. Kelly Williams led Sta. Lucia with 23 points and 11 boards. Lying in wait for the Kings are the second seeded Red Bull Barakos, who clinched an outright semis berth as early as two weeks ago. Game 1 of their best-of-seven series starts Sunday. Top qualifier Air21 meets the winner between Magnolia-Coca-Cola winner in the other semifinal pairing. __
