MANILA: Barangay Ginebra is in survival mode again — and doing a very good job at it.
Even without their top two scorers, the Gin Kings Sunday night ripped Rain or Shine, 86-77, after getting another sterling game from Cyrus Baguio, to keep solo second placea in the PBA Philippine Cup eliminations at the Araneta Coliseum.
Baguio scattered 17 points coming off the bench and also had six rebounds as the Kings seized control all night against a side that has gotten nothing going one month into the season-opening tournament.
“We survived another game, hopefully, we could survive some more,” coach Jong Uichico told reporters. His aces Helterbrand, the reigning MVP, and Caguioa, their leading scorer in 2007, have no definite times for their return to active duty. “We don’t know when we will be complete, though I hope that would be soon.”
Baguio missed just three shots all night — a field goal and two free throws — as he has been playing with the form that made him a darling among a foreign crowd when he played for the Powerade-Pilipinas team in the Fiba-Asia qualifiers in China .
The high-flying and creative 6-foot-1 shooting guard out of collegiate power Santo Tomas in the UAAP scored 22 points in a victory against Barako Bull last Friday and was the unanimous choice as the PBA Press Corps’ Player of the Week. “He ( Baguio ) is carrying the scoring (in the absence of) Mark and Jay-Jay,” Uichico said. “He’s gaining confidence in playing with the team. He was struggling before. I just hope that he has found his niche in the team.”
Rain or Shine dropped to a pitiful 0-6 and remained as the only winless squad in the tournament despite parading one of the more formidable rosters in the field that has Gabe Norwood and Solomon Mercado as cornerstones.
It was rookie Jervy Cruz and veteran Jay-R Reyes who led the scoring parade for the Elasto Painters after shooting 14 each. Norwood was held to just seven markers in 37 minutes while Mercado was good for just four in 27 minutes of action.
Meanwhile, Purefoods bounced back from what its coach said was a humiliating loss last week by bringing down heavyweight Talk ‘N Text, 108-102.
Rookie Rico Maierhofer, the second overall choice in the Draft, had career-high marks with 20 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks and led the Tender Juicy Giants to a 3-2 card.
The Tropang Texters, the defending champions here, took a second straight loss and are now at level 2-2 after they were outsteadied in the clutch.
“Going back to our last game, I thought we were so arrogant,” coach Ryan Gregorio said. “It was a lesson in humility for us. I told them that we will do a little celebration after the game. I looked at the tape of our last game (against Coca-Cola) and we looked like a bunch of high school players celebrating after each made shot.
The Giants became the first victims of the Tigers, who came into that match without a win and were the decided underdogs.
But the Giants lost their focus in that game and blew a good-sized lead in the third period to lose, 79-93.
“Nakakahiya talaga,” James Yap, who fired 13 points, said. “Pinanood ko nga yung (game) tape sa bahay at nakita ko na wala kaming ginawa kundi magsaya nung third quarter. Dun na kami nagkagulo-gulo.”
“We’re pretty much trying to manage our excitement level,” Gregorio added. “Obviously, we were able to do that in this game and it helped us pretty well.”
Maierhofer had some pretty scintillating plays that was worth celebrating, scoring on a couple of show time jams that had the crowd up on its feet. But he saved celebrating until the final buzzer.
There were six players who scored at least 11 points for Purefoods, with Roger Yap also completing a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds with Jondan Salvador shooting nine while also ripping off 10 boards.
Harvey Carey paced the Texters with 20 points, with Mac Cardona shooting 19 and Jimmy Alapag adding 18 and five assists.
Marc Pingris also played great, shooting 12 points and collaring seven boards, including the tip-in he had off a James Yap miss with 68 seconds to go which made it 103-99.
