Kings rally to complete Christmas Day miracle

Ginebra's Christmas fortunes continued this year, and so did the holiday jinx for Alaska. The Gin Kings rallied from 20 points down in the first half to stun the Aces on Christmas Day, 79-70, and bagged the remaining semifinals berth in the PBA Philippine Cup. Mark Caguioa finished the comeback started by Ronald Tubid. Then they teamed up to put the finishing touches in the Kings’ dramatic win before an SRO crowd at the Astrodome. Tubid finished with 16 points, behind Caguioa's team-high 20 points, but it was he who led a big 19-2 run by the Kings in the second quarter. The league's most popular ball club tied the count at 36 after trailing, 28-8, in the opening period. The Aces eventually settled for a 41-36 halftime lead. Caguioa then took over in the second half, where he scored 16 of his total output and took charge in a decisive 15-2 assault that gave Ginebra full control of the match, 75-61 in the final seven minutes. The Kings also drew a big game from Enrico Villanueva on both ends of the floor with 12 points and 15 rebounds. Rudy Hatfield grabbed 17 rebounds and had 10 points. "Nakahinga ng konti (Finally, a breather)," said an obviously relieved Ginebra coach Jong Uichico following the win that stretched the Kings' all-time Christmas Day record to 6-1. "Alaska is so hard to play in the playoffs. Yes, we were lucky tonight. There's always a certain amount of luck involved, but there’s also a certain amount of hard work involved, too." The Kings won two straight over the Aces to claim their best-of-three quarterfinals series, 2-1. The loss also marked the second time Alaska went down in a game of great significance right on Christmas Day. Eight years ago, the franchise also lost to Coca-Cola in the decisive Game 7 of the All-Filipino championship. Ginebra now moves on to the semifinals against No. 2 seed San Miguel, a team that Uichico admitted is giving his team fits as far as size is concerned. "Their (Beermen's) size hurts us," Uichico said. "I hope it goes the distance, and then we'll have a 50-50 shot. After today, I can look at SMB and see whether we have an advantage in some points." Their best-of-seven semis series starts on January 5 at the Araneta Coliseum. Joe Devance led Alaska with 21 points – 13 coming in the first quarter, including a three-point shot that gave the Aces a 20-point spread. He even outscored the entire Ginebra team in that stretch, 13-8. L.A. Tenorio added 18 points and Sonny Thoss had 13 rebounds and nine points But a big disappointment for the Aces was Cyrus Baguio, who scored only seven points on a paltry 3-of-16 shooting from the field against his former team. – JVP, KY, GMANews.TV