MANILA – Reasserting their never-say-die spirit once again, the Barangay Ginebra Kings came from behind to whip past the Petron Blaze Boosters, 87-85, in a Sunday night thriller at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum in the the PBA Governors' Cup semifinals round. In a nail-biting finish, Cedric Bozeman sank the winning floater that broke an 85-all tie with three seconds left in the game. Alex Cabagnot earlier knotted the count on a drive after Dylan Ababou scored on a three-point play. Their third straight win and seventh overall in 11 games lifted the Kings to solo third in the rankings, just a half-game behind the B-Meg Llamados (7-3), boosting their chances of securing a Finals berth. The loss dropped the Boosters to fourth place with a 6-5 win-loss card. Mark Caguioa led all scorers with 25. Bozeman added 13 points, 11 rebounds and four assists while Ababou had 13. Marcus Faison led Petron with 19 points while Chris Lutz had 17. In the opener of Sunday's twinbill, the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters came out with all guns blazing in the fourth quarter to wallop the Meralco Bolts, 99-86. The win assured the pace-setting Painters of at least a playoff spot in the Finals. Meralco dropped out of the Finals race after suffering a second straight loss and seventh overall against four wins. The Bolts were in the thick of the fight up to the start of the final quarter, even leading 71-68. But the ejection of coach Yeng Guiao fired up the Painters as they uncorked a 31-15 run in the fourth quarter to obliterate the Bolts. Beau Belga led the huge uprising, booming in two three-pointers in-between a four-point play by Ronjay Buenafe as the Painters took a 10-2 blast to erase a 72-74 deficit. Jamelle Cornley and Paul Lee joined the shooting party as the Painters pulled away to secure their first win in the semifinals and ninth in 11 games in all. Cornley finished with 21 points and a game-high 14 rebounds while Lee chipped in 16. Buenafe added 10 points while Belga tallied eight points, seven rebounds and four assists. Meralco's Mario West led all scorers with 33 points, including 20 in the second half. Macmac Cardona scored 19 points, while Chris Ross and JayR Reyes had 15 and 11respectively. The B-Meg Llamados came from behind to defeat the Talk N Text Tropang Texters, 94-91, Saturday. Marqus Blakely scored 26 points, grabbed 20 rebounds and blocked three shots.
