Tubid-led Ginebra beats Red Bulls for fourth straight win

The Barangay Ginebra Kings notched their fourth consecutive victory but had to fend off a fiery comeback by the Red Bull Barakos down the stretch to salvage an 83-76 decision Wednesday night in the KFC-PBA Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.

Ronald Tubid tallied 15 points and 11 rebounds to show the way for the Kings, who built a 17-point lead late in the third quarter but almost blew it away when they went through an offensive meltdown in a span of seven minutes bridging the third and fourth quarters.


"We're just getting lucky. I hope we could sustain our effort," said Barangay Ginebra coach Jong Uichico during the post-game interview.

Uichico admitted they are struggling particularly on the offensive side with Mark Caguioa and Jayjay Helterbrand out with injuries.

"But their teammates are doing their best to man the fort in their absence. Hopefully, our collective effort will bring good luck," he said.

With their seventh win in 13 games overall, the Kings took another significant step in their bid to clinch an outright playoff spot, pulling abreast with Rain or Shine, Sta. Lucia and Talk ‘N Text at third to sixth places.

Sunday Salvacion also turned in 15 points, Junthy Valenzuela added 12 and Paul Artadi had 10 and six assist for the Kings, who sealed the win with a closing 10-0 run. Valenzuela and Tubid capped that decisive spurt with back-to-back 3-point shots.

The two teams shot awfully in the first half that saw the count tied on three occasions and the lead changed hands seven times. Ginebra led 43-36 at halftime.

The Kings scored the first nine points of the third quarter and went to build the game’s biggest lead at 17 points twice (62-45 and 64-47) before their shooting went sour.

The Barakos saw an opportunity and they capitalized on it by outscoring the Kings, 23-9, and pulled within 70-72 on two free throws by Cyrus Baguio.

But as they did the past few games, the Barakos couldn’t finish and once again came up short.

Baguio tallied 16 points on 5-of-19 shooting and Leo Najorda added 11 for Red Bull, which dropped its seventh consecutive game – the longest losing spell for the franchise since joining the league in 2000. Overall, the Barakos are 3-10 and in danger of not advancing past the eliminations. (DBC)

The scores:

Barangay Ginebra 83 - Tubid 15, Salvacion 15, Valenzuela 12, Artadi 10, Menk 8, Escalona 6, Cabatu 5, Wilson 5, Crisano 4, Reavis 2, Mamaril 1.

Red Bull 76 - Baguio 16, Najorda 11, Holper 9, Hubalde 8, Rodriguez 7, Sharma 6, Cruz 5, Chan 4, Ybanez 3, Hrabak 3, Duncil 2, Espinas 2.

Quarterscores: 23-22, 43-36, 66-52, 83-76.


http://www.pba.ph/content/view/2398/1/