MANILA – Ronald Tubid scored a personal conference-high 33 points, 16 of them in the pivotal fourth quarter, to lead the Barangay Ginebra Kings to a 111-104 drubbing of the Coca-Cola Tigers Friday night in the 2009-10 KFC-PBA Philippine Cup at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City.
Tubid’s fiery performance more than made up for the continued absence of Mark Caguioa, Jayjay Helterbrand and Celino Cruz, three key guards all sidelined by various injuries.
The win was the sixth against three losses for the Kings, putting them in a tie for third to fourth place with the Talk N Talk Tropang Texters.
Their eighth loss in nine games kept the Tigers at the bottom of the standings.
In the first match of the doubleheader, Macmac Cardona tallied a personal conference-high 40 points as the Talk N Text Tropang Texters climbed from a 30-point deficit to stun the Burger King Whoppers, 118-105.
The loss was a bitter pill to swallow for the Whoppers who led by 49-19 with 9:09 left in the second quarter.
The Whoppers appeared to be in full control of the game and headed for their third straight win when they erected that 30-point lead.
But they caused their own downfall when they started celebrating prematurely, causing both their offense and defense to slacken. The Texters then suddenly woke up from a deep slumber as they outscored the Whoppers, 34-14, to cut the deficit to just 10 at halftime.
Cardona, who also had 11 rebounds and four assists, scored 12 while seldom used Paul Escobal came off the bench to add his career-high nine points in that run.
Cardona continued sizzling hot in the third quarter, enabling the Texters to level the score at 74-all with 5:58 left in the third.
The Whoopers answered with two quick baskets, but this was quickly negated by a 13-6 Talk N Text run that put the Texters ahead, 87-84, going into the final quarter.
The Whoppers failed to even threaten Talk N Text after that as they fell to their sixth loss in nine games. Talk ‘N Text coach Chot Reyes said their victory was a testament to his team’s resiliency. “In a game full of heroes and when everything looked bleak all the coach has to do is turn to the depth of his bench. And I thought Escobal did a good job in providing us the offensive rhythm that got us back into the game,” he said.
“As long as you don’t quit something good will happen. And that’s exactly what happened to us tonight,” Reyes said.
But the win came with a stiff price for the Texters. Ranidel de Ocampo  accidentally hit Burger King guard Chico Lanete in the face with his forearm and was called for a flagrant foul-penalty 2 that led to his ejection with 1:52 left in the second quarter. He faces a possible one-game suspension.
Jimmy Alapag chipped in 15 points, Ali Peek added 13 and brothers Yancy and Ranidel de Ocampo contributed 10 apiece for the Texters, who ended the first round of the eliminations with a 6-3 (win-loss) record.
Gary David led Burger King with 24 points.