Jay R. Gotera Saudi Gazette MANILA — Ginebra's forgotten hero is back with a vengeance. Newly inserted into the roster after a bout with bronchitis, Jayjay Helterbrand delivered the goods for his team in the crucial fourth quarter, scoring all of his 13 points in that stretch to lead the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings to a rousing 90-83 come-from-behind victory over the second seeded Rain or Shine Elasto Painters Saturday night in the quarterfinals of the PBA Commissioner's Cup at the SM Mall of Asia Arena. The seventh-seeded Kings thus forced a do-or-die match against the Painters on Monday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum with a semifinals seat at stake. With a twice-to-beat advantage, the E-Painters could have wrapped up the series with a win Saturday. Indeed, the E-Painters appeared to be on heir way to close out the series at they led 60-45 in the third quarter. But as soon as Helterbrand was inserted in the Ginebra lineup in the fourth quarter, the tide of the battle suddenly shifted in favor of the Kings. Helterbrand drilled three three-point shots in that stretch as the Kings scored a whopping 32 fourth-quarter points to whip past the E-Painters and pull away to victory amid deafening shouts of “Ginebra! Ginebra!” by the club's die-hard fans. Helterbrand is one of only two Most Valuable Player awardees for Ginebra, the other being current MVP Mark Caguioa who is still recovering from knee injury. Defense played a key role in Ginebra's victory as the Kings forced the E-Painters to commit 16 turnovers in the second half, which they converted to 31 easy points. Ginebra had other heroes aside from Helterbrand Wednesday. Vernon Macklin was his usual dominating self, top-scoring with 21 points. LA Tenorio added 19 points while Kerby Raymundo had 14, 11 of them in the second half. New acquisition Josh Urbiztondo, formerly with Barako Bull, likewise shone for Ginebra, playing like he had been a member of the team for a long time. He finished with four points, five rebounds, and five assists. But among his team's heroes, Ginebra head coach Alfrancis Chua said no one could be bigger than Helterbrand. “Jayjay (Helterbrand) and Kerby (Raymundo) stepped up for us while (Josh) Urbiztondo and Vernon Macklin did their job. But on this game, I'm giving it to Jayjay. I'm happy he has regained his confidence,” Chua said. “Jayjay, during the first quarter, he didn't play well. He missed two shots … In practice he's not shooting that well, but I keep on asking him to make the basket. He won it for us. I couldn't say anything more,” Ginebra head coach Alfrancis Chua added. Rain or Shine's Bruno Sundov led all scorers with 29 points, but contributed only a solitary basket in the fourth quarter. Jeff Chan and Jervy Cruz added 15 and 12 points respectively for Rain or Shine. In the first match of Saturday's quarterfinals' doubleheader, the Alaska Aces advanced to the Commissioner's Cup semifinals, downing the Air21 Express, 87-81. It will be the second straight time that Alaska will figure in the Final Four. The Aces now await the winner of the San Mig Coffee versus Meralco series for their best-of-5 semis that could start as early as Wednesday. JVee Casio led the Aces with 19 points, five assists and four rebounds while import Rob Dozier dished out 17 points, a game-high 22 rebounds and four blocks. Nino Canaleta and Michael Dunigan led Air21 with 16 and 13 points respectively. However, Canaleta was held scoreless in the fourth quarter. Dunigan failed to produce his usual high numbers as he was visibly bothered by sore knees and back. His 13-point production was his career-low. He also had 11 rebounds a game-high seven assists.
