Greg Slaughter-June Mar Fajardo I in the PBA will have to wait. And in the meantime, Barangay Ginebra continues its rampage.

With the much-anticipated confrontation of the two giants for the first time in the pros fizzling out at the 11th hour, the Gin Kings and Slaughter had a relatively easy time in disposing of Petron Blaze, 97-83, for the solo PBA Philippine Cup lead at the Mall of Asia Arena Wednesday night.

Fajardo sat it out because of a right knee injury sustained during practice on Monday and his first clash with his boyhood rival in Cebu in the biggest Philippine cage stage will have to happen another day as he watched helplessly from the bench.

Ginebra rolled to a fifth straight win in an 8-1 card after getting 25 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks from Japeth Aguilar and Mark Caguioa backed him up with 18 points with Slaughter shooting 17 that went with nine boards.

“Of course, it was a bit easier with June Mar out,” Ginebra coach Ato Agustin told reporters. “My players relaxed at the start because they knew June Mar wasn’t playing. I needed one timeout early in the first quarter to get them to focus again.

“I just told them to stick to our game plan, even if we were playing against Fajardo or not,” he added.

Arwind Santos, the reigning MVP, took the cudgels for the Boosters with 22 points, 12 boards and two swats. But his efforts weren’t enough, even if Petron actually won the battle off the boards, 53-49, despite the 6-foot-9 Fajardo sitting it out.

Ginebra trailed, 0-6, before stepping on the gas and closing out the first period sitting on a 28-19 spread.

It was all the Gin Kings from there as they just showed too much firepower even with starting point guard LA Tenorio being held scoreless in 27 minutes playing the most-hyped match of the conference so far.

Joseph Yeo chalked up his first career triple-double earlier in the night and helped Air21 snap a three-game slide with a 109-103 overtime win over Globalport.

The Express came roaring back from 18 points down in the first half with Asi Taulava forging extension at 93-all before coach Franz Pumaren got the goods from almost everyone in extra time for the win.

It was just the second win in 10 games for the Express, while the loss was the second straight in a 4-5 card for the Batang Pier, who bungled several chances to win it all in regulation.

Yeo, the former La Salle star in the UAAP who was traded by Barako Bull to the Express to be reunited with Pumaren, finished with 19 points, a career-high 14 assists and 10 rebounds.

His last board came with 45.5 seconds to go and it resulted in two free throws which made it 105-100, before the Express weathered the Batang Pier’s last-gasp stand to fan whatever hopes they have left of advancing past the elimination round.

Tournament format calls for the top eight teams to march on to the first round of the playoffs, with Nos. 1 and 2 enjoying a twice-to-beat privilege against Nos. 8 and 7, respectively.

Those in the middle will clash in separate best-of-three series.

With four games left in their schedule, the Express would need no less than a sweep to guarantee their passage into the next round, and Pumaren bared that coaching staff and management are working on trades to bolster their roster.

Taulava scored the first six Air21 points in overtime and finished with 28 points – his highest PBA output in the last five years – and 13 rebounds. Mac Cardona also fired 28, his best for the season, capping it with the last four points of the Express.

Sol Mercado fired 35 points,, counting the first five Globalport points in overtime, while Jay Washington backed him up with 21 and nine rebounds.

Terrence Romeo, the rookie who scored his career-best 34 points in their first round confrontation, was held down to 16 this time and was forced to several misses at crunchtime.

The former Far Eastern ace in the UAAP, who capped his collegiate career by winning the MVP trophy, was scoreless in the extra five minutes.