Jay R. Gotera Saudi Gazette MANILA – The B-Meg Llamados hacked out a thrilling 110-98 victory in overtime against the hard-fghting Powerade Tigers Saturday night in a PBA Governor's Cup road game at the Ibalong Centrum Recreation Arena in Legazpi City. Marcus Blakely scattered 31 points while James Yap sizzled for 24 markers as the Llamados finished their last elimination round game on an emphatic note, notching their sixth win in nine games that pushed them to solo second in the standings just behind the league-leading Rain or Shine Elasto Painters (7-1). Gary David carried the brunt of the scoring load for the Tigers, finishing with 34 points. His three-pointer at the end of regulation time, knotted the count at 90-all, to force the extra period. The Llamados poured it on in overtime to hand the Tigers their third straight defeat and fifth overall in nine games. Only the sixth and final slot in the semifinal round is left to be filled as the conference winds down its elimination round Sunday. The teams that have already qualified for the next round are Rain or Shine, B-Meg, Talk N Text, Barangay Ginebra and Petron Blaze. Three teams still have a chance to grab the last remaining slot – Meralco, Powerade and Barako Bull. A win by the Meralco Bolts (4-4) against the Barako Bull Energy (3-5) in the first game of Sunday's twinbill will enable the Bolts to grab the last semifinals seat. However, an Energy victory will result in the three teams having the same win-loss card (4-5), necessitating a playoff among them. Mark Caguioa and Cedric Bozeman teamed up beautifully to guarantee the Barangay Ginebra Kings a semifinals slot with a 102-91 win against the Barako Bull Energy Friday night. The win gave the Kings a 5-4 win-loss slate in their final elimination round game, taking a safe enough spot in the top six that advance to the ensuing semifinal round. Barako Bull fell to eighth place with a 3-5 card as their hopes for a semifinals berth suffered dimmed. In the nightcap, the Petron Blaze Boosters eked out a 98-97 victory against the Air21 Express to tie the Kings at fourth to fifth spot in the rankings. The also-rans Express tumbled to their seventh loss in nine games to join the Alaska Aces at the bottom of the standings. Bozeman finished with 28 points while Caguioa added 22, including four treys, as Ginebra's 1-2 punch knocked down the hard-fighting Energy. Climbing from a 15-point deficit, the suddenly fiery Barako Bull appeared to be on course to seize the lead in the homestretch. But Caguioa's last three-pointer with 1:42 left gave Ginebra a 96-87 lead, stopping the Energy on their tracks. Before that, Bozeman scored five straight points, including a three-pointer, to give Ginebra an 89-84 lead, with 4:19 left. Caguioa then scored five straight points of his own inside the last two minutes as the Kings pulled away. LerRoy Hickerson lead the Energy with 21 points. His end-game miscue, however, contributed to Barako Bull's demise. As the Energy were making their last-ditch stand, Hickerson thought he heard the referee's whistle to halt the game and committed a traveling violation.
