Ginebra bursts Air21 bubble

Barangay Ginebra posted a ground-and-pound victory for the first time in the PBA Governors’ Cup Tuesday night, and according to new coach Jeffrey Cariaso, his Gin Kings got precisely what they needed.
“It’s nice to be able to grind out a win, to struggle throughout the whole game and pull it out,” Cariaso said, moments after an 84-76 decision of Air21 at the Araneta Coliseum for the solo elimination round lead.
“This is a game where we grew – even if it was just half-an-inch – and we are happy with that,” added Cariaso, whose first two victories were both lopsided. “It was great effort and focus (on our part). We were willing to struggle and find a way to win.”
Import Zaccheus Mason scored 22 points that went with nine rebounds and five assists, doing the most damage on the Express in the fourth period where he shot 10 of his total.
Greg Slaughter, the runaway favorite for the Rookie of the Year award, fired 12 points, half of them coming in the fourth, to help put the Express away. The 7-footer out of Ateneo also had 12 rebounds and four assists.
Air21 didn’t do itself a favor in losing for the first time in three games by going a horrid 6-of-22 from the free throw line, with all but one of those muffed charities coming from the Express’ two best players – Dominique Sutton and Asi Taulava.
Taulava, who came into the game averaging a shade over 20 points a contest, went 3-for-11, while Sutton was 2-for-9 as those clips helped doom the Express who engaged the Kings in a tight battle all night.
“It’s a simple aspect of the game that can hurt you,” Cariaso said of Air21’s free throw shooting woes. “We were fortunate tonight that they missed a few.”
Sutton still went on to pace the Express with 22 points but had just six in the final half, including a paltry two points in the fourth period.
Mac Cardona and Joseph Yeo were the only other Express in twin digits, tossing in a combined 25. Taulava, the one-time MVP who has been the biggest reason for Air21’s rejuvenation starting the last conference, was held down to just nine points.
San Mig Coffee kept the pace-setting Gin Kings in sight earlier in the night after shooting down luckless Meralco, 108-90, in the first game.
Peter June Simon scored 22 points, Marqus Blakely had 16, 18 rebounds and a night-high five blocks and three locals tossed in 10 or more as the Mixers proved too much for the Bolts to rise to 2-1 overall.
The Bolts took a fourth straight loss right in the kisser, even after bringing back the hardworking Mario West. Meralco is now alone at the cellar and would need to play flawlessly the rest of the eliminations to make the playoffs.
San Mig lost some focus late in the first half when Marc Pingris was thrown out with just over three minutes left for punching James Sena in the right side of the body.
After shooting 10 points and grabbing two rebounds, Pingris was sent to the showers for reacting for a hard screen given by the reserve Meralco center.
That incident slowed the Mixers a tad, but San Mig came out of the halftime break a much focused, more determined side as it blew the Bolts off the floor by draining baskets from almost everywhere.
“I always tell the players that the first sign of fatigue and tiredness is being pikon (short-tempered),” coach Tim Cone said. “When they focused and didn’t get caught in their little battles (in the second half), we were a good team.
“Sometimes, distractions take them out of the team concept. It hurts us overall,” continued Cone. “We just have to stay focused on just winning and what it would take to win. We should have a lot of maturity.”