The small, pro-Barangay Ginebra crowd chanted M-V-P practically the whole night for Mark Caguioa.
And for most of the game, Caguioa gave them a performance worthy of one.
Caguioa scored 20 of his 29 points in the middle two periods, and his two fourth quarter buckets were the biggest in the stretch last night as the Gin Kings hammered Rain or Shine, 95-86, to stay undefeated in the PBA Governors’ Cup semifinals.
With an 8-4 record overall, the Kings remained solidly in the hunt for a top two finish and a championship slot while they derailed the Elasto Painters’ formal march into the title series as Rain or Shine dropped to 9-3.
“We’ve been playing as a team well and playing solid defense together,” Caguioa said after also grabbing seven rebounds that went with two assists and the same number of steals.
Rain or Shine remained in the lead despite the loss, and the Painters have two more chances remaining to formally advance, against Talk ‘N Text on Monday and the B-Meg Llamados on Wednesday.
The Llamados can tie the Painters at the top with an expected victory over ousted Meralco today, and that would greatly muddle up the chase for the championship berths with Talk ‘N Text also still in the hunt.
Ginebra’s victory also formally sealed defending champion Petron Blaze’s ouster after the Boosters had lost to the Llamados Wednesday night, when they blew a 19-point second quarter lead to lose by 11.
With that loss, the Boosters will come into today’s match against Talk ‘N Text with a 6-6 record, going 1-2 thus far in the semifinals and out of the 4-of-5 incentive.
Talk ‘N Text, meanwhile, tore sister squad Meralco to shreds also on Wednesday and is 1-1 in the round. And the Tropang Texters would need to win their remaining three games to be able to avail of the incentive.
Caguioa is the leading MVP candidate after the ouster of Powerade from these playoffs practically eliminated leading scorer Gary David from the race.
He is averaging close to 19 points a contest and has come off the bench every game in this conference.
“We have tried to do that for the whole year,” coach Siot Tanquingcen said. “We want to always have someone to spark us coming off the bench and Mark, just as his nickname says, is giving us that consistently.” The Painters were in command in the first period before Caguioa came off the bench to score nine points in the second as Ginebra tied the count at 45 at the half and gained the momentum it needed.
From there, he was on target and had 11 in the third that had the Kings keeping control for the buffer they needed to cushion the Painters’ dogged comeback.
Paul Lee scored 19 hard-earned points as Ginebra threw import Cedric Bozeman on the prolific Rain or Shine rookie.
But the biggest difference last night was Jamelle Cornley being taken out of his sweet spot to contribute just 13 markers and the inability of Jeff Chan to hit the open three-point shot when the Painters needed them.
Chan hit just 2-of-10 triple tries, while Cornley was 4-of-12 from the field.
“We gave him the respect. Even if it was Bozeman, he still scored 19,” Tanquingcen said of his defensive ploy on Lee. “The level of his play is so high already.” Tanquingcen has not been in the Finals for two years, with his last stint coming with San Miguel, now Petron, in this conference with Gabriel Freeman as an import. The Beermen lost to Alaska and Diamon Simpson in that conference.
