MANILA: Finding little opposition inside the paint, Richard Howell churned out his most dominant PBA performance to date and took Talk 'N Text along for a ride.

The 23-year-old mocked all defenses thrown at him by Barangay Ginebra on Tuesday night and led the Tropang Texters to an easy 97-84 victory over the Gin Kings for a first Final Four seat in the Commissioner’s Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.

Howell finished with 41 points – 37 of them in the first three quarters where the Texters opened up several 26-point spreads – as Talk ‘N Text took the sting out of the Gin Kings early to roll to their 10th straight victory overall.

And coach Norman Black had one simple explanation as to why Howell got away with murder on a very big game for the Kings.

“It’s difficult for Ginebra because they are asking a local to stop him,” Talk ‘N Text coach Norman Black said of his import’s dominating performance. “I don’t think they (Ginebra coaching staff) realize that he is a pretty strong player.

“Richard Howell is a pretty good player,” Black continued. “He is pretty good in the (United) States and he's pretty good here.”

After trailing in the first minute, the Texters went to town by going to Howell inside, and the broad-shouldered import tossed in 15 in the first period that staked Talk 'N Text to a 27-21 lead.

Howell then scored 22 more in the middle two quarters where the Texters broke the game wide open before holding off several minor Ginebra rallies in the final 12 minutes.

“I was worried coming into this game that the long rest would affect us,” Black said, referring to a 12-day break they had after his Texters swept the elimination round, 9-0, to gain No. 1 ranking in the quarterfinals and drawing the eighth-seeded Kings.

“But they all came out playing as hard as they could,” Black, who won a Grand Slam with San Miguel in 1989, said of his players. “All credit goes to them. They deserve to be in the semifinals.”

With a shorter import in Gabe Freeman, the Kings had no other choice but to put either Greg Slaughter or Billy Mamaril on Howell, who ran rings around his defenders to also collect 22 rebounds.

Freeman, who came in for Josh Powell and was the third import for the Kings, was good for only 15 points on 2-of-17 shooting from the field. Mark Caguioa led Ginebra with 19 points and LA Tenorio fired 12.

And while Talk 'N Text didn’t need a second game to wrap up its quarterfinal matchup with its lower-ranked foe, San Miguel Beer, the No. 2 seed, was dragged into a KO match by No. 7 Air21.

Sean Anthony and import Wesley Witherspoon scored 23 of the Express’ 29 points in the fourth quarter and helped seal a wire-to-wire, 92-79 upset of the Beermen in the first game.

The Express knew what to do this time, finishing off the Beermen in style unlike last Saturday when they blew a 17-point lead at the start of the fourth period.

“We were able to sustain our run,” Air21 coach Franz Pumaren said. “We had a terrible experience against them the last time around. Today, we played smart and kept our composure.”

Their KO match is set Friday night also at the Big Dome even as Meralco and Alaska try to finish off separate foes on Wednesday night and join the Texters in the next round.

The Bolts battle Rain or Shine in Game 2 of their best-of-three series at 5:45 p.m., seeking a victory that would give the franchise its first-ever triumph in a playoff series.

Alaska, on the other hand, will try to show San Mig Coffee the door in the 8 p.m. contest and move within four more victories of returning to the Finals and possibly repeating.

The winner of the Meralco-Rain or Shine series will advance opposite the Texters, while the survivors of the Air21-San Miguel showdown and the Alaska-San Mig confrontation will clash for berths in the best-of-five semifinals.