Ginebra, Petron post different semis triumphs

Barangay Ginebra and Petron Blaze, sister squads with championship-winning pedigrees, know how to step it up come playoff time.
The popular sides took different routes in kick-starting their respective PBA Governors’ Cup semifinal campaigns Friday night, with the Gin Kings ripping Meralco, 89-76, and the defending champion Boosters being taken to the limit by Rain or Shine.
Kerby Raymundo was brilliant for the first time as a Gin King, sparking a huge third quarter breakaway before finishing with his first double-double of 16 points and 13 rebounds as Ginebra rose to 6-4 by winning back-to-back games for the first time.
The 6-foot-6 former Purefoods all-star scored 10 of his total in the third as Ginebra bloated a 43-30 halftime lead to 73-50, before cruising the rest of the way and pushing the Bolts on cliff’s edge at the Ynares Center.
Meralco, which took the worst carryover record into this round, fell to 4-6 and would need to be perfect in its last four games to be able to avail of the 4-of-5 incentive in this round and play the No. 2 qualifier for the second Finals seat.
Cedric Bozeman scored 13 points and had 16 rebounds, and rookie Allein Maliksi dropped eight of his 12 in the first period against Mac Cardona to jumpstart the Ginebra offense.
Mario West led the Bolts with 22 points, with the resurgent Asi Taulava shooting 17 to go with 11 rebounds.
“Like I have been saying before, that (winning back-to-back games for the first time) is farthest from my mind,” Ginebra’s Siot Tanquingcen said. “What we want is a good start to the round so we can earn some distance from the others.
“What we want is to keep on winning because we are all bunched up in the standings,” he said. “Our immediate concern is the teams around us.” The Boosters kept in step with the Kings later in the night, but not after almost blowing a 22-point second quarter lead and literally needing a huge basket in the endgame to quell the Elasto Painters, 90-88.
Arwind Santos hit the insurance putback of an Alex Cabagnot miss with seven seconds left, saving Petron from what would have been the meltdown of the tournament.
“We recovered,” Petron coach Ato Agustin told reporters after heaving a huge sigh of relief. “Collapsing is a part of the game, the important thing there was our energy level did not go down and our will to win was there.” The loss was the first in the last five games and just the second in 10 overall for the Painters, who still remained ahead of the pack.
Petron paraded a new import in Marcus Faison, who battled jetlag and exhaustion to score 20 points and snare down nine rebounds.
Rain or Shine, meanwhile, threw away several golden chances of winning a fifth straight game as the Painters missed seven free throw attempts in the fourth period alone.
Gabe Norwood had five of those misses, but the good thing about it was that the Painters never, for even a fleeting moment, abandoned their chase of the Boosters.
Jamelle Cornley had 36 points and 10 rebounds and super rookie Paul Lee collected 15 for Rain or Shine, which now has four games remaining to nail down at least two wins and book a first-ever title series appearance.
Meanwhile, B-Meg and Talk ‘N Text start their respective campaigns Saturday as the league plays at the new Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay at 8 p.m. B-Meg need to win in order to stay in second spot and a loss would create a four-way tie for second place at 6-4 and would make the rest of the semifinal round double interesting.