PBA Fiesta Cup: Tigers escape past Kings in a wild finish

John Williamson scored seven of Coca-Cola’s last 11 points and teamed up with Asi Taulava in the endgame as the Tigers pulled off a 96-95 come-from-behind win over the Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings Sunday in the PBA Fiesta Cup at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium. Playing in his debut game, the 6-foot-6 import out of University of Cincinnati carried the load for the Tigers in the payoff period before Taulava came through with a power play off Rudy Hatfield that broke the game’s final deadlock and put Coca-Cola ahead for good, 95-93. Williamson, coming in as a late replacement for Rashad Bell, led the Tigers with 24 points and nine rebounds. His split from the foul line with nine seconds remaining stretched the Tigers’ lead to three, 96-93, opening the door for a possible game-tying basket by the Kings. The league’s crowd darling almost did it as Sunday Salvacion recovered the rebound off a Mark Caguioa miss, hurriedly positioned himself in deep left corner, and buried a fade-away shot with a defender’s hand on his face as the clock was ticking down. The shot went in at the buzzer, sending the Ginebra bench in frenzy and creating pandemonium inside the playing arena.

But a review of the game tape showed one of Salvacion’s foot stepping inside the three-point area, allowing the Tigers to escape with the win after trailing by as many as 11 points in the opening half. “This win is so significant because it builds improvement on our team. Our main focus was to improve," said coach Bo Perasol with a big sigh of relief. “I told my players to just get the process improved, either we go to the wildcard phase or the playoffs in preparation for anything." The Tigers are now 6-9 overall as they won for the second time in three outings, enhancing further their bid for the wildcard phase. Taulava also dominated inside with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Ginebra’s 7th loss in 16 outings formally slammed the door on its hopes of making the semifinals outright. At the most, the team’s only hope is landing an automatic berth in the quarterfinals. Mark Caguioa led the Kings with 24 points, but committed a crucial offensive foul on Marvin Cruz with 10 seconds remaining and Ginebra just down by two. Willie Miller added 21 and Denham Brown 20, including two free throws with 1:55 left that tied the game for the last time, 93-93. - RCJ, GMANews.TV