The Barangay Ginebra Kings handcuffed the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, 63-58, in the final game of the KFC PBA Philippine Cup elimination round Thursday night, thus gaining the No. 3 seeding in the conference and an outright passage into the quarterfinals. The Kings ended up with a 10-8 win-loss card. They will face the survivor of the wildcard round wherein four teams – San Miguel, Air21, Purefoods and Coca-Cola – will clash in three do-or-die games beginning Sunday. The winner of that round will get the fourth and final quarterfinal seat. Ginebra's victory towed Talk N Text to the No. 2 spot after the Tropang Texters edged the Air21 Express, 109-108, in the first game of the Christmas Day double-header played at the jampacked Araneta Coliseum. With the win, Talk N Text gained outright passage to the semifinals and relegated Air21 to the wildcard round. Ginebra used a suffocating defense to limit Rain or Shine to its lowest scoring output in the conference. The Painters paid dearly from relying on their three-point shooters as they converted only 5-of-37 from the three-point arc. But despite the loss, the Rain or Shine franchise still produced its best preliminary-round record in its young history in the PBA. Eric Menk nailed 15 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the Kings. Jay-R Reyes led the Painters with 12 points and nine rebounds. Top Rain or Shine recruit Gabe Norwood was only three-of-11 from the field while Sol Mercado, another blue-chip rookie, was only 2-of-10 from the field. They missed all their four three-point attempts. In the first game, Ranidel de Ocampo sank a 19-foot shot at the buzzer to enable Talk N Text to beat Air21, his former team. With 2.1 seconds left on the clock, De Ocampo got the inbounds pass from rookie Jason Castro, took a dribble to elude his guard and then fired the winning basket just before the clocked expired over the outstretched arms of another Air21 defender. Gary David earlier split his charities with 2.1 seconds left to give Air21 a one-point lead, 108-107. It was only his first miss from the foul line after going a perfect 8-of-8 earlier. With the win, Talk N Text ended its elimination round campaign with an 11-7 record, assuring itself of a seat in the Final Four and joining top seed Alaska (12-6). De Ocampo scored a double-double with 18 points and a career high-tying 16 rebounds on top of two assists. Talk N Text launched a furious rally after being down by as many as 15 points, 75-90, late in the third quarter. Harvey Carey led the Texters' uprising as he scored 11 of his 17 points in the quarter. Jimmy Alapag led the Texters with 23 points. The Express will face the Purefoods Giants in the wild-card round on Sunday following the duel between SMB and Coca
