Caguioa rescues Ginebra again

There’s this one guy who always seems to be there to bail Barangay Ginebra out.
And with good reason, that’s why they named Mark Caguioa ‘The Spark.’ Caguioa scored 12 points inside the final six minutes last night and helped the Gin Kings turn back defending champion and sister team Petron Blaze, 83-80, in a thrilling PBA Governors’ Cup game at the Araneta Coliseum.
“The guy is really a blessing to this team,” Ginebra coach Siot Tanquingcen said after Caguioa finished with 19 points. “He’s a scoring machine and I am glad working with people like Mark.” The win was Ginebra’s second straight in a 3-2 card, giving the crowd-darlings a third place tie with idle Powerade to stay well within the mix of six teams that will advance to the playoffs.
B-Meg, the reigning Commissioner’s Cup champion, gained a tie for the lead after bamboozling Air21 Saturday night in Digos, Davao del Sur, 91-78, where Marcus Blakely scored 21 points and three locals chipped in with twin digits.
With their fourth straight triumph, the Llamados equalled the longest winning streak in the tournament held by Rain or Shine and tied the Elasto Painters for the lead at 4-1.
Zach Graham paced the Express with 39 markers, but Air21 still fell to 1-3 overall.
Caguioa actually came off the bench after a long rest in the final six minutes and proved to be the biggest difference in the game.
Ginebra trailed, 62-71 early in the final frame after six unanswered points by the Boosters before Tanquingcen pulled out his biggest ace in Caguioa.
Petron was within 80-72 after a triple by Alex Cabagnot with just over 21 seconds left to play, but Kerby Raymundo sewed up scoring for the night with a split from the charity stripe.
It was also Cabagnot who missed the potential game-tying triple as time expired.
“This is a short tournament and we have to make a run as much as we can,” Tanquingcen continued. “We are starting to get the right mix and head into the direction that we want.” Meralco also got to the direction that it wants to tread after Asi Taulava played his most dominant game in years to power the B-Boys to a 100-95 decision of the Alaska Aces in the first game.
Taulava scored 23 points and plucked down 12 rebounds, taking over in the fourth period when new import Mario West sputtered because of fatigue as the B-Boys snapped a three-game losing streak to slightly improve to 2-3.
West came in as a replacement for the ineffective Champ Oguchi, and the National Basketball Association veteran finished with 33 points, six rebounds and six assists.
He scored 22 in the first two periods, hit for another 11 in the third before going silent in the fourth quarter and being bailed out by the man-mountain Taulava, the 39-year-old many-time Philippine team center.
“Mario West can play with the energy and intensity that rubbed off on the other players, especially Asi,” coach Ryan Gregorio said. “Asi really turned back the hands of time. Despite what the naysayers are saying about his age, Asi is really important to us.” The last time Taulava played a game as dominating was in Feb. 18, 2011 during the conference opening game of the Commissioner’s Cup which they lost to Ginebra.
Alaska, which underwent another coaching change two weeks before the start of the tournament, took a third straight loss and is now alone in the cellar with a 1-4 card, again in danger of missing the cut for the second time this season.