PBA: Kings survive Coffee Masters, 93-90

For the second straight time, Barangay Ginebra had to rekindle its never-say-die spirit to pull off another escape act in the PBA Fiesta Cup. Eric Menk sparked a late Kings comeback and Milton Ambres scored the go-ahead basket, helping the league's most popular team avoid Barako Energy Coffee's upset bid in a 93-90 win at the Araneta Coliseum Wednesday night.

Things appeared going against Ginebra in the final two minutes when Al Vergara buried a pressure-packed three-pointer on top of the key, giving the Energy Coffee Masters a comfortable 90-81 lead. Or so they thought. Barako Coffee wouldn't score again after that as the Kings clustered 12 straight points, which Menk ignited by pouring in five in a row while Celino Cruz buried a three-pointer and capped by Ambres by grabbing the last of his game-high 20 rebounds to convert the marginal basket that pushed Ginebra back on top, 91-90, with 11 seconds left. But Barako's hopes of duplicating its 106-98 stunner of Alaska on May 2 ended when import Sammy Monroe committed a traveling violation at the other end, forcing them to foul Willie Miller right away to stop the clock. Miller coolly sank the two free throws for the marginal count with six seconds left. "Luckily, again luckily we're able to escape," admitted Menk, aware how the Kings were fortunate to get past Air21 last week, 101-100, as Ronnie Matias missed the game-winning 18-footer at the buzzer. But the win, the Kings' fifth in nine assignments, hardly impressed coach Jong Uichico and described his latest victory as an an ugly one. Ambres bounced back from a disappointing showing in the Kings’ 95-82 loss to Derby Ace by pacing the team with 27 points, while Menk came through with a personal conference-high of 20. Rudy Hatfield played his best game for Ginebra since joining the team a month ago with 10 points and 15 rebounds. Barako failed to get its first back-to-back win in the post Yeng Guiao era, dropping to 2-7 overall. The Energy Coffee Masters had one chance left to steal the game, but with no more timeouts left, Vergara went coast-to-coast and threw a desperation three-pointer that badly missed at the buzzer. Monroe had 21 of his 27 points in the first half, while Reed Juntilla scored a career-high 23 as he teamed up with Leo Najorda (16) in scoring 22 of Barako's 27 markers in the fourth period. Juntilla's back-to-back baskets, including a completed perfect assist by Najorda, gave Barako an 87-80 lead, which the Energy Coffee Masters stretched to nine after Vergara's backbreaking three-pointer. - JVP/RCJ, GMANews.TV