Jay R. Gotera
Saudi Gazette
MANILA — Japeth Aguilar drilled a huge three-pointer from the deep right corner with 1.7 seconds left to lead the Barangay Ginebra Kings to a come-from-behind 110-107 victory over the NLEX Road Warriors on Wednesday night in the last elimination round game of the PBA Governors’ Cup.
Aguilar finished with just seven points sand eight rebounds, but his clutch trey was enough to send the Kings into the playoffs as the eighth seed. They will now face the league-best Alaska Aces, who own a twice-to-beat advantage, Friday.
NLEX’s Asi Taulava earlier tied the game, 107-all, with 16 seconds remaining before Aguilar’s heroics.
Ginebra ended the conference in a four-way tie with Meralco, Talk N Text and Kia, all with a 5-6 win-loss card. Because of the quotient system, Kia ended up at ninth place while TNT wound up at 10th, followed by NLEX (3-8) and Blackwater (1-10). Had Ginebra lost the game, Kia would have qualified as the 8th seed.
LA Tenorio and import Orlando Johnson were the top scorers for Ginebra with 21 points apiece. Jiwan Kim scored 16 points, including four three-pointers in the fourth quarter. Greg Slaughter finished with 14 points and eight rebounds. Emman Monfort came off the bench to chip in 11 markers.
Import Michael Madanly of Syria led NLEX with 36 points while Asi Taulava posted 18 markers. Import Kwame Alexander added 12 points before fouling out late in the fourth quarter.
Kia 88, Meralco 85
With injured playing-coach Manny Pacquiao providing the inspiration, the Kia Carnival stunned the Meralco Bolts, 88-85, to finish the elimination round with a 5-6 win-loss slate, Kia’s best finish yet.
The Carnival, however, missed the playoffs as the Barangay Ginebra Kings defeated the NLEX Road Warriors in the nightcap.
Despite finishing with the same 5-6 card, Meralco will enter the playoffs as the seventh seed by virtue of its superior quotient. The Bolts will go up with a twice-to-win disadvantage against the second seed San Miguel Beermen in the playoffs.
Kia’s victory spelled doom for Talk ‘N Text which crashed out of the conference despite finishing with the same 5-6 slate due to its inferior quotient.
Import Hamady N’Diaye led Kia with 24 points, 19 rebounds and six blocks. But it was the duo of LA Revilla and Joshua Webb who keyed Kia’s victory in the homestretch of the closely fought game that had 13 lead changes and eight deadlocks.
Webb buried a clutch three-pointer from the right wing that gave Kia an 83-80 lead with 1:14 left. He finished with just five points.
Revilla waxed hot in the last three minutes, firing half of his 16 points total in that period. He calmly sank all four free throws awarded him in the last 18.6 seconds to seal Kia’s victory. The wily and cat-quick point guard also had five rebounds and five assists.
Mark Yee added 13 points and eight boards. Karl Dehesa also stood out for Kia, pouring all of his 10 points in the nail-biting fourth quarter. Import Andre Emmett paced Meralco with 35 points.
Games Friday (Quarters): GlobalPort (4th seed with twice-to-beat advantage) vs. Star (5th seed) and Alaska (1st seed with twice-to-beat advantage) vs. Ginebra (8th seed).
