Barangay Ginebra just won’t fall in a 0-3 hole, coming out strong to get back to life versus the favored San Miguel Beer side in their PBA Philippine Cup Final Four match-up Sunday night.
Egged on by their huge cheering fans at the Araneta Coliseum, the Kings established control early, led by as many as 25 in the second quarter and roared on to a 95-78 win that reduced the Beermen’s lead to 2-1 in the best-of-seven series.
“It’s really a big win for us. We’ve realized what we need to do, and hopefully we can do the same Wednesday. It’s still a tough climb but at least we’re still here to do the climbing,” said Ginebra coach Jong Uichico.
“We came out flat. Tinalo namin sila sa rebounds at iba pang departments but we just couldn’t run our offense. Di tuloy maka-shoot,” said San Miguel coach Ato Agustin.
The Beermen take a second shot at the pivotal third win in the series Wednesday also at the Big Dome.
“They surprised us with their adjustments. Nakita rin naman namin yung mga pick-and-roll plays nila, pero di na rin na-stop. We’ll take a deep look at that in the next two days,” said Agustin.
“Malakas talaga ang kalaban. We can only hope that same thing happens Wednesday,” said Uichico.
The Kings spread the floor and ran their patterns well as they stopped the San Miguel charge and, thus, avoided a 0-3 deficit.
“Nagalit si Mark (Caguioa),” said Uichico in jest.
“Di naman nagalit. It’s just that we got it going,” said Caguioa, who rose to the occasion and helped the team set the tone of the match early.
Caguioa hit everything he threw up in the opening quarter, leading an early Ginebra assault that built momentum carrying the Kings to a 25-point spread at 46-21.
The Kings enjoyed a 20-point cushion at halftime as they converted 61.3 percent of their shots as against the Beermen’s 34.9-percent clip.
Caguioa went 4-of-4 from the field and 1-of-1 from the stripe in the first quarter then Willie Miller and Ronald Tubid took over as the three each logged nine points in the first 24 minutes of play.
Caguioa wound up with a double-double job of 17 points and 12 rebounds with Miller, Tubid, Rudy Hatfield and Eric Menk each adding double-digit markers.
Hatfield, who was 0-of-6 from the three-point area in the conference, nailed two of three to spike a 16-point game he also laced with nine rebounds and five assists against three errors.
The entire Ginebra team was in a zone, hardly giving San Miguel a chance in the contest.
From their 25-point deficit, the best the Beermen could do was cut their deficit to nine.
“The target was to narrow down the gap to single digit going to the final quarter. Naibaba sa siyam pero di rin na-stop ng husto ang Ginebra,” said Agustin.
The scores:
Ginebra 95 - Miller 19, Caguioa 17, Hatfield 16, Menk 12, Tubid 10, Villanueva 7, Helterbrand 6, Aquino 3, Intal 2, Cortez 2, Wilson W. 1, Wilson J. 0.
San Miguel 78 - Washington 13, Hontiveros 13, Santos 11, Cabagnot 9, Pena 8, Salvacion 7, Artadi 6, Miranda 4, Ildefonso 4, Seigle 2, Yeo 0, Racela 0, Pennisi 0.
Quarters: 30-14, 52-32, 73-61, 95-78
“It’s really a big win for us. We’ve realized what we need to do, and hopefully we can do the same Wednesday. It’s still a tough climb but at least we’re still here to do the climbing,” said Ginebra coach Jong Uichico.
“We came out flat. Tinalo namin sila sa rebounds at iba pang departments but we just couldn’t run our offense. Di tuloy maka-shoot,” said San Miguel coach Ato Agustin.
The Beermen take a second shot at the pivotal third win in the series Wednesday also at the Big Dome.
“They surprised us with their adjustments. Nakita rin naman namin yung mga pick-and-roll plays nila, pero di na rin na-stop. We’ll take a deep look at that in the next two days,” said Agustin.
“Malakas talaga ang kalaban. We can only hope that same thing happens Wednesday,” said Uichico.
The Kings spread the floor and ran their patterns well as they stopped the San Miguel charge and, thus, avoided a 0-3 deficit.
“Nagalit si Mark (Caguioa),” said Uichico in jest.
“Di naman nagalit. It’s just that we got it going,” said Caguioa, who rose to the occasion and helped the team set the tone of the match early.
Caguioa hit everything he threw up in the opening quarter, leading an early Ginebra assault that built momentum carrying the Kings to a 25-point spread at 46-21.
The Kings enjoyed a 20-point cushion at halftime as they converted 61.3 percent of their shots as against the Beermen’s 34.9-percent clip.
Caguioa went 4-of-4 from the field and 1-of-1 from the stripe in the first quarter then Willie Miller and Ronald Tubid took over as the three each logged nine points in the first 24 minutes of play.
Caguioa wound up with a double-double job of 17 points and 12 rebounds with Miller, Tubid, Rudy Hatfield and Eric Menk each adding double-digit markers.
Hatfield, who was 0-of-6 from the three-point area in the conference, nailed two of three to spike a 16-point game he also laced with nine rebounds and five assists against three errors.
The entire Ginebra team was in a zone, hardly giving San Miguel a chance in the contest.
From their 25-point deficit, the best the Beermen could do was cut their deficit to nine.
“The target was to narrow down the gap to single digit going to the final quarter. Naibaba sa siyam pero di rin na-stop ng husto ang Ginebra,” said Agustin.
The scores:
Ginebra 95 - Miller 19, Caguioa 17, Hatfield 16, Menk 12, Tubid 10, Villanueva 7, Helterbrand 6, Aquino 3, Intal 2, Cortez 2, Wilson W. 1, Wilson J. 0.
San Miguel 78 - Washington 13, Hontiveros 13, Santos 11, Cabagnot 9, Pena 8, Salvacion 7, Artadi 6, Miranda 4, Ildefonso 4, Seigle 2, Yeo 0, Racela 0, Pennisi 0.
Quarters: 30-14, 52-32, 73-61, 95-78
