PBA Sunday: Kings snap Llamados' 5-game streak

Barangay Ginebra survived a barrage of three-pointers from Derby Ace down the stretch to pull off an 89-86 win Sunday night at the Big Dome. It snapped the win streak of the hottest team in the PBA Philippine Cup. Ronald Tubid waxed hot from beyond the arc, while Eric Menk was virtually unstoppable inside as the Kings negated the hot shooting of the defending champions from three-point range to complete the victory before a crowd of 14,074. The Kings have now improved their card to 8-3 overall, giving them enough cushion to break free from Talk `N Text (7-3) for solo second in the standings. Menk had a conference-high 20 points with five rebounds. He went 12-of-14 from the foul line. His four straight free throws within a minute broke the final deadlock and put the Kings on top for good, 85-81, with 1:22 remaining. “They’re a tough team. They really played physical and gave us a big scare," said Menk of the defending champions, who had gone on a five-game winning streak. “I guess we’re just lucky enough to pull this one off," Menk added. Peter June Simon finished with 26 points and James Yap added 14 as they presided over a big scoring spree from rainbow territory in the final five minutes. It put the Llamados in a perfect position to win the game of changing fortunes. With the Llamados trailing 70-75, Simon and James Yap nailed back-to-back three-pointers to give Derby Ace a one-point cushion. Following a Ginebra miscue, Simon scored on a completed three-point play off a Mike Cortez foul as the Llamados stormed to a 79-75 lead. But the Kings hardly lost their poise. Tubid drained a long three-pointer as the shot clock wound down. And after a miss by Roger Yap, Willie Miller found Tubid free at the right flank for another booming trey. The Kings grabbed the lead anew, 81-79, amidst the usual chants of "Gi-nebra! Gi-nebra! Gi-nebra!" inside the Big Dome. Don Allado pulled off a jumper in the next play to level the count for the last time, 81-81. Caguioa had 18 points for the Kings while Tubid and Miller each had 12. Simon was 10-of-15 from the field and scored 10 points in the opening quarter. His long three-pointer with 9.5 seconds left had the Llamados threatening for the last time at 86-87. Miller made it a three-point game, sinking both his charities after a duty foul to stop the game clock. But with no timeouts left in the final 6.6 seconds, the reigning champions were forced to launch a hurried shot, with James Yap’s attempt from three-point line hardly touching the rim. The Llamados are now 6-6, but remained in solo fourth place. - KY, RCJ, GMANews.TV