MANILA — Crawling from the abyss and then racing to the top has indeed become a habit for the Barangay Ginebra Kings. On Sunday, the never-say-die Kings did the trick again, climbing from 17 points down in the third quarter to pull off a sensational 97-90 win against the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters in the PBA Philippine Cup at the jampacked Smart-Araneta Coliseum. Ginebra scored its fourth straight win, joining the Meralco Bolts in fourth to fifth spot, with both teams having a 6-5 win-loss card. Rain or Shine slid to solo third with an 8-4 mark behind Talk N Text (10-2) and San Mig Coffee (8-3). LA Tenorio nearly had a triple-double, finishing with 20 points, 10 assists, and seven boards, as he sparked the Kings' scorching rally in the final quarter. Conspicuously, the Kings made their huge run with top gunner Mark Caguioa sitting on the bench. Ginebra head coach Siot Tanquingcen later explained that he benched the league's reigning Most Valuable Player in a crucial stretch of the fourth quarter because he “was not in his usual self tonight,” noting that his star player was struggling with his shots, including free throws. Despite this, Caguioa managed to contribute 18 points, hitting just 6-of-22 from the field and 4-of-9 from the foul line. Rookie Chris Ellis added 15 points, punctuating his team's come-from-behind win with a smashing reverse windmill dunk as the final buzzer sounded. With Rain or Shine still leading by nine, 78-69, at the start of the final quarter, Tenorio drilled a three-pointer to spark a 14-8 run as the Kings cut the lead to 86-83, with 2:53 remaining. Jeff Chan scored on a running jumper to pad Rain or Shine's lead to 88-83. But the Kings answered with a crippling 10-0 run to stay in command, 93-88, with just 16.7 ticks left. Jervy Cruz led the Painters with 17 points and 12 rebounds while Larry Rodriguez had 14 points. Rookie Chris Tiu saw action for the first time since he aggravated a hamstring injury in Rain or Shine's first game in the conference. He contributed eight points. In the first match of the Sunday double-header, the Talk N Text Tropang Texters had to use every ounce of their strength to ward off a gritty Air21 squad, 100-94. The pacesetting Texters thus secured a twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals as they are now assured of at least a tie for the top two slots in the conference with their 10th victory in 12 games with two more elimination round play dates left for them. Jimmy Alapag ensured the win for his team with two huge three-pointers in the homestretch that doused off a furious rally by the Express. Alapag finished with 18 points and six assists. Jayson Castro and Ranidel de Ocampo contributed 16 points apiece while Larry Fonacier had 11 in another display of balanced TNT offense. Mike Cortez led Air21 with 23 points and nine rebounds while James Sena and Nino Canaleta added 18 and 13 points, respectively. The Express tested the Texters to the hilt as they took a 75-74 lead in the fourth quarter. But the Texters answered with an 8-2 blast to take an 82-77 lead. Renren Ritualo knocked in a three-pointer to trim the lead to 88-85. But Kelly Willians sank two charities and Alapag buried a killer trey to put the game away. Air21 suffered its third straight loss and fell to 4-8 overall, thus giving the Barako Bull Energy Cola (3-8) a chance to grab a quarterfinal slot.
