Jay R. Gotera
MANILA — Mark Caguioa showed he still has the spark as he led the Barangay Ginebra Kings to a rousing 85-70 victory over the GlobalPort Batang Pier Wednesday night in the PBA Philippine Cup.
Caguioa banged in 22 points plus five steals — his finest game yet in the tournament.
Greg Slaughter also scored 22 points and had 21 rebounds in another monster performance as the Kings romped to their third straight win — their longest win streak for more than a year.
Ginebra thus improved to a 4-3 win-loss card, good for solo sixth place. With its second straight defeat, GlobalPort slid into a tie for seventh to eighth place with Barako Bull, both with a 3-3 card.
The Kings started hot, racing to a 13-3 start. But the Batang Pier came charging back behind the guns of Terrence Romeo and Stanley Pringle who sparked a 12-3 GlobalPort run.
The Batang Pier finally took the lead, 33-32, increasing it to 41-36 at halftime after a buzzer-beating three-pointer from Jay Washington.
GlobalPort increased its lead to seven in the third quarter, but Ginebra rallied to knot the count at 51-all.
Caguioa and Slaughter then took over the game in the fourth quarter, sparking a 9-2 run punctuated by a Slaughter dunk.
The Kings continued pouring in the points, leading by 11, 72-61, with still less than five minutes.
The Batang Pier appeared to have lost steam as the Kings cruised to victory.
Washington led GlobalPort with 18 points. Pringle finished with 13 markers, while Romeo could only contribute 10 on 2-of-10 shooting from the field.
Talk N Text 109, Blackwater 98
The Talk N Text Tropang Texters needed just one huge run in the third quarter to crush the Blackwater Elite, 109-98.
Apparently playing on cruise mode in the first half, the Texters didn’t seem to mind as the Elite fought them almost on even terms. Blackwater even managed to grab the lead several times, the last at 61-56 early in the third before the Texters finally decided to play their brand of basketball.
At that point, the Texters virtually settled the contest with a 16-0 blast, with top gunner Jayson Castro firing nine of his team-high 26 points in that period.
A Castro three-pointer gave TNT its biggest lead at 19, 91-72, en route to its fourth win in six games. The Texters are now tied for fourth to fifth spot with the NLEX Road Warriors.
The Elite fell to a 1-5 win-loss slate, tying the Mahindra Enforcers at 10th to 11th place in the 12-team tournament.
TNT’s twin rookie towers of Troy Rosario and Mo Tautuaa posted 17 and 16 points, respectively. Beside providing some scoring punches, the two also sparkled in defense, making the Elite bleed for their points.
Larry Fonacier also scored 16 for TNT while Harvey Carey added 10 markers.
Poy Erram and Carlo Lastimosa led Blackwater with 18 points apiece while rookie Art dela Cruz showed flashes of all-around brilliance, finishing with 13 points, seven boards and three assists.
Games Friday: Alaska Aces (5-1) vs. NLEX Road Warriors (4-2); and Rain or Shine Elasto Painters (4-1) vs. Barako Bull Energy (3-3).
