MANILA — The Barangay Ginebra Kings regained solo leadership of the conference with an emphatic 89-82 victory over the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters in the PBA Governors’ Cup Saturday night at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Their eighth win in 10 games boosted the defending champions’ chances of a Top 4 finish in the eliminations to secure a twice-to-beat incentive in the quarterfinals.

Justin Brownlee was Ginebra’s biggest weapon once again, finishing with a team-high 28 points along with 10 rebounds as the Kings bounced back from a 107-103 loss to San Miguel Beer last Sunday.

LA Tenorio added 16 markers, including six in the final quarter. His turnaround jumper with less than two minutes left gave the Kings an 86-78 lead, virtually sealing the win.

Greg Slaughter and Scottie Thompson chipped in 12 points apiece. Slaughter added 12 boards while Thompson had nine rebounds, five assists, and one block in 30 minutes to run away with the game’s best player award.

The Kings led for most parts of the game, setting their biggest lead at 15 points, 47-32, after scoring 10 straight points at the start of the third quarter.

The Painters managed to cut the deficit to three, 75-72, with less than 6 minutes left after back-to-back three pointers from Chris Tiu and another triple from Jericho Cruz. But the Kings answered back with a run of their own to frustrate ROS, which absorbed its fourth loss in nine games, preventing the Painters from gaining an outright quarterfinals seat.

Raymond Almazan led ROS with 20 points, eight boards, and one block in 30 minutes. J’Nathan Bullock tallied 15 points while Cruz and Tiu added 13 and 11 points, respectively, in a losing effort.

San Miguel Beer 118, Kia 112

June Mar Fajardo exploded for 41 points and 17 boards to lead the San Miguel Beermen to a scary 118-112 come-from-behind victory over the hard-fighting yet luckless Kia Picanto.

Their sixth win in nine games allowed the Beermen to secure a quarterfinals berth and give themselves a good chance of barging into the Top 4.

But the Beermen had to fight tooth and nail for the win as the still winless Picanto played their hearts out, even leading by as much as 11 points, 67-56, in the third quarter before the Beermen stamped their class in the payoff period. Kia thus suffered its 10th straight loss with one game left in its campaign for this season.

Terrence Watson finished with 16 points, 14 boards, four assists, and three blocks for SMB. However, coach Leo Austria opted to keep his import on the bench in the fourth quarter, giving his Fajardo-led locals the task of overhauling Kia’s lead. Four other Beermen scored in double digits with Marcio Lassiter finishing with 16, Arwind Santos and Chris Ross adding 15 each and Alex Cabagnot chipping in 11.

The win put to naught the 42-point explosion of Kia import Geron Johnson, who also collected 10 boards.

Games Sunday: Blackwater Elite (4-5) vs. GlobalPort Batang Pier (3-6) and Star Hotshots (5-30 vs. TNT KaTropa Texters (6-3).