MANILA — The Barangay Ginebra Kings leaned on the explosive power of their top playmaker and twin towers to crush the TNT KaTropa Texters, 93-78, in the PBA Philippine Cup Sunday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
LA Tenorio, Japeth Aguilar, and Greg Slaughter combined for 72 points as the Kings romped to a second straight win and improved to a 5-4 win-loss card, tying NLEX at fifth to sixth spot, with two games left in their elimination round schedule. TNT suffered a second straight loss and tumbled to eighth place at 4-5.
Tenorio punched in 27 points on11-of-19 shooting, 11 assists, five rebounds, one steal, and only one turnover in more than 38 minutes of play. Aguilar powered his way to 25 points, six boards, two assists, two steals, and two blocks, while Slaughter tallied 20 points, 14 rebounds, four assists, and two blocks.
Scottie Thompson added nine points, 11 rebounds, four assists, and two steals. His three-pointer with less than two minutes left capped a 16-4 run that gave the Kings their biggest lead of 16 points, 91-75.
Kevin Ferrer drilled back-to-back three-pointers, his only points in the game, to spark Ginebra’s blitz in the final frame after TNT managed to knot the score at 65-all.
The Kings shot 48.8 percent from the field and dished out 25 assists.
Jayson Castro and Kelly Williams led TNT with 17 points each. However, the duo scored only two points apiece in the fourth quarter. Castro also had a dismal 6-of-20 shooting from the field.
Roger Pogoy added 16 points to no avail as the Texters now face an uphill struggle to stay in contention for a playoff spot.
NLEX 96, Alaska 89
The NLEX Road Warriors survived a monstrous comeback by the Alaska Aces from a 30-point deficit early in the fourth quarter to eke out a 96-89 victory on Sunday night.
The Road Warriors were ahead, 87-57, with 9:46 left when the Aces went on a blistering 32-4 run to come to within two points, 91-89, with 13.9 seconds left.
NLEX, however, stopped the bleeding in the nick of time with five free throws from Kevin Alas, Kiefer Ravena, and Larry Fonacier to seal their team’s third straight win. The Road Warriors thus improved to a 5-4 win-loss card. The loss snapped Alaska’s six-game winning streak, but the Aces stayed with the leaders at 6-3, in a tie for second to third spot with Magnolia.
Kevin Alas, Larry Fonacier, and Raul Soyud scored 15 points each to lead NLEX. Alas added eight rebounds and two assists off the bench. Fonacier drilled three triples on top of four rebounds and four assists, while Soyud had seven boards.
Rookie Kiefer Ravena finished with a near triple-double of 12 points, 10 assists, and six rebounds. JR Quiñahan added 12 points, five assists, and four rebounds.
Just like NLEX, Alaska also had a balanced scoring with JVee Casio, Vic Manuel, and Jeron Teng finishing with a team-high 12 points each. Calvin Abueva, Carl Bryan Cruz, and Nick Enciso added 10 points apiece.
Games Wednesday: Phoenix Fuel Masters (4-4) vs. Meralco Bolts (2-6) and TNT KaTropa Texters (4-4) vs. GlobalPort Batang Pier (3-4).
