When Norman Black said that his Talk 'N Text side wouldn’t be taking it easy against Barangay Ginebra with really very little at stake on Sunday night, he was telling the absolute truth.

Playing their hearts out to gain No. 1 seeding which Black later said was of little consequence, the Tropang Texters got the goods from Paul Harris and creamed Barangay Ginebra, 96-92, in the PBA Governors’ Cup at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.

Coming into the game already assured of a quarterfinal bonus, the Texters rallied from 14 points down in the third period and then blitzed the Gin Kings relentlessly in the fourth, closing out with a 7-2 record to be No. 1 for the second straight conference.

“It (finishing as elimination round topnotcher) is not really our goal,” Black later said after getting 31 points and 16 rebounds from Harris, their third import after Othyus Jeffers and Rodney Carney. “The goal remains to be to win the championship.”

Black and his Texters thus got the chance to play the lowest-ranked team in the quarterfinals — Barako Bull — needing to win just once to make the Final Four.

Barako Bull finished eighth after taking an 87-90 loss at the hands of Alaska earlier in the night, and the Aces, because of the Talk ‘N Text win, can even earn a twice-to-beat privilege depending on the result of Monday night’s game between defending champion San Mig Coffee and Rain or Shine.

Ginebra dropped to 5-4 like Alaska, San Miguel Beer and Rain or Shine and San Mig Coffee at the moment.

But the Mixers and the Elasto Painters actually got free rides into the top four, and a win by San Mig would relegate Alaska to No. 7 and give idle sister team San Miguel Beer the No. 4 rank.

A Rain or Shine win, however, would put Alaska as No. 4 and give Rain or Shine No. 2 ranking and the right to face No. 7 Air21, needing to also beat the Express just once to advance.

Should San Mig win the 8 p.m. contest, San Miguel will then battle the No. 5 Gin Kings also armed with the quarterfinal incentive.

Globalport, with a 1-8 record, and Meralco, which actually finished tied with Barako Bull at 3-6 but lost out in the quotient, were the two teams that got the boot.

Harris was phenomenal against the Kings, shooting seven straight points in the most critical time of the fourth period that allowed the Texters to escape.

“I really felt that I was in a roller-coaster today,” Black, a winner of the coveted Grand Slam while with San Miguel Beer in 1989, said after spurts characterized the much-applauded match. “Both teams made runs and lost control, especially in the first half.

“Paul Harris once again came up big for us,” said Black of his import, the team’s third choice after Othyus Jeffers and the ineffective Rodney Carney.

Ginebra was still in command, 69-63, when rookie Greg Slaughter, the Gin Kings’ 7-foot tower of power, got busted up by Harris with an accidental elbow while he was trying to stop the Talk ‘N Text import from making a three-point shot.

Slaughter was called for a foul and Harris was awarded three free throws. Ginebra had no choice but to sit Slaughter down so team physicians could control the bleeding, and this was the time when the Texters struck hardest.

Harris made the three free throws and Ranidel de Ocampo scored five straight points that sandwiched a Japeth Aguilar basket that sewed things up at 71 going into the final 7:39.

It went nip-and-tuck from there until Harris scored seven straight points that bloated an 85-83 Talk ‘N Text lead to 92-85 going into the last 22.7, a lead that not even the vaunted never-say-die spirit of the Kings couldn’t overcome.

Harris, who scored 16 of his total in the fourth period, got support from the 18 points of de Ocampo and Jason Castro, with Larry Fonacier shooting 12. Jimmy Alapag returned from sick bay to quarterback the Talk ‘N Text offense efficiently.

Aguilar tossed in 18 points to lead the Kings, who got just 15 points from import Zach Mason.