“We were shaky the entire time and we can’t do that against the contenders,” Uichico told reporters, minutes after a 93-74 dismantling of Barako Bull in the PBA Philippine Cup eliminations at the Cuneta Astrodome.

“It’s a good win, obviously,” he continued. “But we still have a lot of work to do. There is much imbalance in this team. We have a lot of scorers but what we need out there are role players willing to do their jobs and carve their niche in this team.” Ginebra was dragged into a see-saw game for almost the first three periods before breaking away in the fourth quarter to post the convincing win and improve to 2-2 overall.

“We just managed to break loose in the fourth quarter and that was pretty much the ball game for us,” Uichico said. “But when you look at it (game) in its entirety, we weren’t in control before the fourth period.

“And when we get to play the contenders, games like this one won’t be enough for us to get the job done.” Ginebra gained control only late in the second period, when the Kings closed out the half with a 12-0 run that had them taking a 45-39 lead into the third period. The Energy Boosters had taken a 39-33 edge after two free throws by undrafted rookie Hans Thiele.

Willie Miller scored four points and fed Rudy Hatfield for a layup during that run, before the Kings totally dominated late in the third period with an 11-2 bomb opening up a 71-61 lead going into the final 44 seconds of the period.

It was all Ginebra from there as its defense finally held and shut down the Barako Bull offense to just 11 points in the quarter.

Mark Caguioa led the Kings with 18 points, with five of his seven third quarter points coming in a string to highlight that telling spurt. Miller wound up with 15 points, 11 of them in the first half when the Kings struggled.

Hatfield, the only remaining reliable big man in the Ginebra lineup with Eric Menk nursing a hamstring twitch, scattered 13 markers and pulled down a season-high 22 rebounds, just one shy of his career-high.

Hatfield would have gotten the chance to establish a new personal mark, but Uichico was unaware of it and pulled out his hardworking forward with still three minutes left in the contest.

In the nightcap, Air21’s top rookie picks delivered on both ends in the clutch as the Express became the first team to defeat Alaska, 86-83, to also improve to 2-2 and tie the Kings.

Rabeh Al-Hussaini, the second choice overall, hit two free throws with 15.1 seconds left and top Draft pick Nonoy Baclao preserved the final score when he smothered a potential game-tying three-point attempt by Joe Devance as the clock ran out on the Aces.

Alaska dropped to 3-1 but kept a share of the lead with idle Talk ’N Text, and the victory by Air21 has made coach Yeng Guiao talk with so much pride afterwards.

“I’ve been waiting for this kind of game, for our team to show some character especially against such a great team like Alaska,” Guiao said. “More important than winning is the way we played with so much character.” Ronjay Buenafe hit for 25 points and sophomore swingman Ronnie Matias backed him up with 16, highlighted by nine fourth quarter points that included a triple with 26.7 seconds left that gave the Express an 84-80 lead.

But Cyrus Baguio, who paced the Aces with 26, retaliated with a trey of his own just 10 seconds later and kept Alaska in it before Al-Hussaini delivered those two critical free throws after being intentionally sent to the line by Alaska.

Coming off a timeout, the Aces still had a lot of time before going for the equalizer, only for Devance to have a hard time shaking off Baclao and for the former Ateneo ace in the UAAP to block the attempt.