MANILA: Barangay Ginebra and Globalport were supposed to walk through their respective expansion team foes on Tuesday night.

They both got the exact opposite.

The Gin Kings, using their enormous advantage in size and experience to the hilt, dealt Blackwater a fourth straight loss, moments after the Batang Pier practically walked the tightrope in surviving KIA Motors in the PBA Philippine Cup eliminations at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.

Mark Caguioa scored 10 of his 18 points in the fourth period and helped the Gin Kings thwart the Elite, 100-91, as Ginebra bounced back from an ugly loss to the NLEX Road Warriors to rise to 3-1 overall.

The Batang Pier, after learning at the start of the day that Alex Cabagnot wouldn’t be able to play, finished strong for a change to nip the Sorento, 84-79, and improve to a level 2-2 card.

“I told them they would be tough,” Ginebra coach Jeff Cariaso said afterwards, referring to his pre-game statements that Blackwater was going to be a handful. “Our veterans delivered in the stretch, especially Mark (Caguioa).

“Mark was being Mark out there,” added Cariaso. “He responded when we wanted him to deliver.”

Ginebra opened up leads of as large as 17 points a couple of times in the first three periods, before seeing this pruned down to just six heading into the final 2:18.

“I kept telling my players that they are a second half team,” Cariaso said, referring to the Elite, who remained winless but have earned some respect along the way. “That’s exactly what they did today. We gave them 48 second half points, and that’s a lot.”

Mac Baracael paced the Kings with 19 points and Greg Slaughter added 10 and 11 rebounds and Ginebra used its superior advantage in size to methodically control the boards, 66-41, which proved key.

Japeth Aguilar, was off offensively with just eight markers but made up for this by plucking down 13 rebounds. Baracael also had eight boards.

Paul Artadi, the former college phenom who hasn’t really found his place in the pros all these years, fired a career-high 21 points built around five triples, with Bam-Bam Gamalinda shooting 15 for the Elite.

Meanwhile, Globalport found life hard without Cabagnot and never really had control against the Sorento, who lost in a respectable manner for the first time in their last three games.

The previous two KIA losses were by an average of 30.5 points – against Ginebra and Rain or Shine – but the Sorento had a chance to win this one, especially after being able to hold No. 1 rookie pick Stanley Pringle down.

With Cabagnot nursing flu-like symptoms and Terrence Romeo being given limited minutes by coach Pido Jarencio, the KIA defense was able to clamp down on the 6-foot-1 Pringle, who fired just 13 points in 38 minutes.

Being the smart player that he is, though, Pringle snared down eight rebounds and had a night-high six assists as Ronjay Buenafe led the Batang Pier in scoring with 19 markers.

“I knew that collapsing in the endgame is not the character of this team,” Globalport coach Pido Jarencio said. “If that was the case, this game wouldn’t have been different for us.”

Jarencio elected to field Romeo for just 13 minutes, but the former Far Eastern ace in the UAAP – being the volume shooter that he is – still managed to throw up 12 attempts. He made only one for two points, his lowest output this season.

That gambit allowed touches for most everyone on the floor for Jarencio, as Buenafe had his breakout game and rookie Anthony Semerad and Mark Isip tossing in twin digits and combining for 22 points.

Semerad had six of his 12 in the fourth quarter, shooting them in succession when the Sorento were still in it.

John Pinto actually had a triple with 5:25 left that shattered the game’s last tie at 69 before Semerad, a former NCAA Finals MVP with San Beda, hit those points after a Yancy de Ocampo basket that made it 80-74 with 1:36 left.

Incidentally, Semerad hurt KIA where it mattered – in the final count – to get back somewhat on the cheap shots that he got from bruiser Chad Alonzo late in the first period.

Semerad got hit at least four times by Alonzo elbows in the head in a scuffle after a rebound play, and incompetent referees – despite the aid of a slow-mo machine during the break – slapped a double technical foul on both players.

Alonzo was then seen in a happy mood on the bench, recalling to teammates how he planted those elbows on Semerad. He has been summoned by the commissioner today and is expected to be fined heavily.