No walkout as Ginebra Kings dethrone Texters

Barangay Ginebra dethroned Talk 'N Text fair and square Sunday night, 113-100, to advance into the semifinals of the KFC-PBA Philippine Cup. JC Intal pumped in a career-high 28 points, including 16 in the opening half, while adding 10 rebounds in the Game 5 win that clinched for the Kings the controversy-marred quarterfinals series, 3-2. Waiting for the league’s crowd darling at the other end is top seed Alaska Aces. Game 1 of their best-of-seven semis begins on Wednesday.

Ronald Tubid finally played his best game of the series with 16 points, so did Eric Menk, while Willy Wilson had 14 and Celino Cruz and Enrico Villanueva finished with 13 and 10, respectively for the Kings, who were in control of the sudden-death game majority of the way. The Kings also became the latest team to climb back from an 0-2 deficit to win a best-of-five duel, sweeping the last three games of the series, including a 27-20 win in Game 4, which the deposed champions forfeited after walking out of the game with one minute left in the first period owing to what they perceived were biased officiating in favor of Ginebra. Officiating was never an issue in the decisive game as Intal and Tubid came out smoking for the Kings, who raced to an early eight-point lead before settling for a 55-49 edge at the half. Then came the big third quarter rip-off. Intal opened the second half by completing a three-point play, before Celino Cruz launched a booming three-pointer for a 61-49 Kings lead, at which time Talk `N Text gunner Mac Cardona was already nursing his fourth personal foul. A jumper by Wilson at the 7:00 mark of the period stretched the lead to 15, before the Kings made it a 76-59 game midway into the third, prompting Talk `N Text coach Chot Reyes to call a timeout as chants of “Ginebra! Ginebra! Ginebra!" from majority of the 21,422 crowd in attendance reverberated inside the Araneta Coliseum. The Tropang Texters made a concerted effort to bring down the deficit to 102-96, but the Kings made a short but telling 6-2 run to safely pull away in the final 1:40, 108-98. Cardona topscored for the Tropang Texters with 21 points – half of them in the first half – while Jason Castro and Jimmy Alapag added 18 apiece. Talk `N Text had no. 33 printed on their playing shirt in honor of suspended teammate Ranidel de Ocampo. The 6-foot-7 shooting forward out of St. Francis was meted a one-game suspension by the league for committing a flagrant foul 2 on Tubid in Game 4, the controversial call that eventually sparked the Tropang Texters’ decision to walk out of the game. – GMANews.TV