The Talk N Text Tropang Texters bludgeoned the Barangay Ginebra Kings, 109-85, Wednesday night, to boost their chances of earning one of two outright semifinals berths in the 2008-09 KFC PBA Philippine Cup. Also bolstering their hopes of securing a semifinals slot are the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters who escaped with a 93-92 squeaker over the San Miguel Beermen in the first game of the double-header played at the Araneta Coliseum. Talk N Text and Rain or Shine are now tied for joint second with a 10-7 win-loss card, just half a game behind the idle Alaska Aces (10-6). The Texters dominated the Kings right from the start, ending the first quarter with a 21-point bulge, 35-12, which expanded into a 34-point lead, 64-30, at halftime. Mark Cardona led the Texters with 21 points and six rebounds while his backcourt partner Jimmy Alapag had 17 markers, including 5-of-6 from the three-point line. The Kings vainly tried to catch up with the Texters, but the closest they could get was to trim the lead at 26 points, 94-68, in a 18-8 Ginebra run with 6:01 left in the game. With the loss, Ginebra slipped to an 8-8 card, joining idle Air21 from sixth to seventh places. However, the Kings are already sure of gaining a quarterfinals slot with just two games left in their schedule. For the first time in the conference, Billy Mamaril topscored for Ginebra with 17 points, four rebounds and two blocks. In the first game, a tip-in by Rain or Shine's top rookie pick Gabe Norwood with one-tenth of a second remaining spelled doom for San Miguel. The pulsating climax to a hard-fought game enabled the Painters to jump ahead of the Beermen in the race for the top two slots in the conference. The Beermen, which started the day tied for second with the Painters and the Texters, fell to 9-8, joining idle Sta. Lucia from fourth to fifth places in the standings. The loss was a stunning blow to the Beermen who set the second highest number of converted three-point shots in PBA history in Wednesday's game. San Miguel went 19-for-37 from three-point range, the all-time second most triples made in a game. Rain or Shine also scored heavily from beyond the arc, hitting 12-of-37. The all-time record for most three-pointers made in a game was 23 registered by Talk N Text in a 116-99 win over Air21 last April 22 in the 2008 Fiesta Conference. Norwood was ecstatic after the game. “I felt I was playing bad the whole game and didn't do something right. I had to do something to help my team. But I never thought it would end like this ... with so much on the line,” he said. Norwood struggled all night long, managing a measly eight points on 2-of-9 shooting. However, he had seven rebounds, two assists and one steal in 34 minutes in action. But his last-second basket was the one that mattered most. After Dorian Pena gave San Miguel a 92-91 lead with a follow-up shot with 2.6 seconds remaining, the Painters sued for time to plot their final offensive. When play resumed, the inbounds pass was received by Allan Salansang who quickly launched an uncontested three-point shot. However, he missed. As the ball hit the back rim, Norwood soared highm caught the ball in mid-air and tipped it in just as time expired. __
