wo hours after the result, the Boosters got the best gift their sister team, Ginebra, delivered.

After a week of suspense wait and the complicated quotient calculations, Petron finally sealed the Finals’ cast in the PBA Governors’ Cup, setting up a best-of-seven championship duel with Talk ‘N Text that begins right away on Sunday at the Araneta Coliseum.

The Boosters required two things to occur to advance to the Finals for the 26th time in franchise history. First, they needed to defeat the Tropang Texters, which they did in a surprisingly trouble-free manner, 98-83. Second, Petron had to bank on Ginebra to defeat an import-less Rain or Shine, which happened to be a foregone conclusion following the Kings’ 103-95 win later in the night.

The achievement by Petron put to a close an interesting week as to which ball club gets to face the Grand Slam-seeking team in the Finals.

Petron, Ginebra, and even idle Alaska all had chances to barge into the championships before Friday’s games. But the Boosters’ victory over the Texters eliminated the Kings out of the race, and still received a positive return from the ball club they ousted.

The Boosters, the Kings and the Aces all ended the carry-over, single-round semifinals with similar 8-5 (win-loss) records, and Petron emerged with the highest quotient (+13). Alaska had a +6 quotient and Ginebra -19.

And so, the Texters and the Boosters will face off in a championship series for the third time and for the second this season after Talk ‘N Text won the Philippine Cup against San Miguel Beer in six games.

The question that now floats is can an undermanned Petron franchise stand a chance against the mighty Talk ‘N Text ball club motivated by the thirst to become the first team to sweep all three conferences in a single season in 15 years?  Jong Uichico, the Ginebra coach, thinks so.

“We all know that Talk ‘N Text is really a strong team,” he said. “I think Petron matches up with them pretty well. TNT thrives on energy and hustle. And I think Petron has the players to sustain with them.

It’s going to be close. It can go either way.”  Looking back, however, Uichico felt they let slip away an opportunity to make it into the Finals for the second straight conference.

“If we did win games that we lost, maybe we are the ones in the Finals,” Uichico said. “We won (the game) but there’s something lacking. This is something new in my coaching career. We just did what we have to. We were just doing our jobs.”  The Talk ‘N Text squad Petron met Friday wasn’t the authentic Talk ‘N Text. The Texters had already clinch the Finals berth when they beat Ginebra, 102-90, last Sunday, and it was understandable that the telecommunications franchise was already resting their key players for Game 1.

That was something Petron exploited. The Boosters went to serious business early, grabbed a 13-point lead at the half, stretched the lead to its largest at 26 (82-56), before coasting along the rest of the way even though Rabeh Al-Hussaini (ACL), Jay Washington (foot injury), Joseph Yeo (foot injury) and Lordy Tugade (surgery, right hand) missed the game.

And then the Boosters waited.

Ginebra didn’t disappoint them.

The Kings pulled away in the third quarter, taking a 74-58 lead. But Ginebra still had to weather a storm when the Painters came to within 90-87.

Mike Cortez completed a four-point play after sinking a three with a foul to boot from Ryan Arana, and Mark Caguioa and Erik Menk each had a basket on fastbreak plays to seal the game and Petron’s championship appearance with a 98-87 advantage with merely 2:34 remaining in the contest.

Anthony Grundy scored 35 points and grabbed 12 rebounds while Arwind Santos was once again at his element, producing 19 points and 16 rebounds for Petron, which led by as many as 82-56 after a 6-0 run to start the fourth period. Danny Ildefonso and Mick Pennisi each contributed 10 points.

Talk ‘N Text, aiming to become only the fourth franchise after Crispa, San Miguel Beer and Alaska to win a Grand Slam, was led by Larry Fonacier’s 16 points. Kelly Williams had 11 points and Harvey Carey 19 points and seven rebounds.

Cortez, on the other hand, scored all of his 16 points in the fourth quarter, while Ronald Tubid led the Kings with 18.

Beau Belga topscored for Rain or Shine, which finished the tournament with a 6-7 slate.