GINEBRA veteran big man Japeth Aguilar had an open lane for an unmolested dunk from the left wing–or so he thought. Meralco import Allen Durham rose to challenge Aguilar and came up with a thundering block just before the end of the third quarter.
But Aguilar and the Kings had the last laugh last night, essaying a 113-106 victory over the shellshocked Bolts in Game 3 of their best-of-5 quarterfinals duel and advancing to the semifinals of the PBA Governors’ Cup at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium in Manila.
Still flying high at 37, the 6-foot-9 Aguilar pulled down an offensive rebound off a Maverick Ahanmisi missed three-pointer and scored on a putback that made it a 109-102 game with 28.0 to go.
What followed was the proverbial final nail in Meralco’s coffin–the boisterous pro-Ginebra crowd yelling its famous chant– “Gi-ne-bra! Gi-ne-bra!”
With 2-1 series leads, defending champion TNT and Rain or Shine seek to send NLEX and Magnolia packing, respectively, in the fourth games of their Last Eight showdowns today at the same venue.
The pro league has suspended referee Rey Yante for the rest of the season-opening tourney for missing the goaltending violation in the final seconds of the controversial third tiff pitting the Elasto Painters and the Hotshots two nights back.
PBA deputy chief Eric Castro announced the sanction last night, saying Yante should have made the call as the trailing referee.
“We call it ROTC, rest of the conference. Referee Yante won’t be able to officiate for the rest of the conference,” Castro said while taking full responsibility for the furor. “Hindi natin maalis sa laro ng basketball ang breaks of the game. Again, I’m not making excuses.
“I admit, we made a mistake. But again, breaks of the game are part of any sporting event.”
Even Kings coach Tim Cone was caught by surprise after his charges completed a 3-0 sweep of Meralco that included a 104-103 escape in Game 2 last Saturday.
“First of all, I’m totally shocked that we were able to beat them (Bolts) in three straight games. Each game came with play here, play there that could have changed the whole complexion of the game. The ball kept rolling in our favor and usually the team that continues to battle and work and work really hard usually the ball rolls in its favor,” Cone said. “So, the ball rolls in our favor. They beat us in the last (Philippine Cup semis) series and a lot of guys were not part of that.
“The last series in Game 7, they tore us apart. So, it’s been a long time coming to come back and be able to have a chance to make up for that and make up for the fans as well,” he added.
Resident import Justin Brownlee fired 23 points on two four-pointers, on top of three rebounds and four assists for Ginebra while Stephen Holt produced 19 markers, seven boards and five dimes.
Aguilar, rookie RJ Abarrientos, Ahanmisi, and former MVP Scottie Thompson had 19, 17, 17, and 16 points, respectively, for the Kings who will take on the winner of the San Miguel Beer-Converge quarterfinals clash.
The Beermen tackled the FiberXers in Game 3 at press time last time holding a 2-0 edge.
Ginebra trailed 47-56 at the half and stared at a 66-78 deficit on two free throws by Durham with 4:35 remaining in the third canto.
The Kings charged back and grabbed an 83-72 advantage heading into the final stanza.
Durham carried the fight for the Bolts with 38 points and 13 caroms while Bong Quinto added 19 and three.
Chris Newsome, Chris Banchero, and Cliff Hodge also got 14, 10, and 10 markers, respectively, for Meralco.
Cone’s squad seems to be peaking at the right time and whatever team it will face in the Last Four should be wary.
