Kings whip Beermen; Top 2 race wide open

MANILA, Philippines -  Barangay Ginebra put more hustle and defense in its game and turned back San Miguel Beer, 107-99, to muddle up the fight for the Top Two in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup eliminations last night at the MOA Arena.

Justin Brownlee, LA Tenorio, Scottie Thompson and Joe Devance worked as one cohesive unit on both ends as they powered the Kings to a wire-to-wire triumph over the Beermen in a tense game that saw fans of the two teams on the verge of a free for all up in the gallery at endgame.

The MOA security personnel handled the situation well, and the Kings completed their crucial win that again forged a tie between Ginebra and SMB at 6-2, just a half game behind Meralco (7-2) and Star (7-2).

TNT KaTropa (7-3) is another team still in the thick of the fight for the Top Two.

The five teams head to a mad scramble in the homestretch of the one-round-robin elims with the first two placers earning the crucial twice-to-beat incentive in the quarterfinals.

“We caught them a little flat at the start and we took advantage of that,” said Ginebra coach Tim Cone after the game, which somehow atoned for  a loss to Rain or Shine the last time out.

After leading by as many as 20, the Kings actually had to weather numerous SMB uprisings, the last after the Beermen came to within three at 90-93 with 2:42 left to play.

Brownlee took over from there and bailed the Kings out of trouble with a clutch short baseline jumper plus two free throws to touch off a steady Ginebra windup.

The Kings survived early fouls by Japeth Aguilar and his eventual exit with his sixth and last foul with 3:03 left to play. Aguilar struggled with just five points on 2-of-6 shooting.

In the first game, Mahindra rode high on the exploits of new backcourt tandem of LA Revilla and Reden Celda as the Floodbuster turned back the Phoenix Fuel Masters, 122-121, in overtime to stay in the playoff race.

But Ginebra couldn’t be denied the big games of Brownlee, Thompson, Devance and Tenorio.

Brownlee produced 34 points and 12 rebounds.

 in a double-double game while Thompson had his own double-double numbers with 18 markers and 11 boards.

Tenorio played a key role in sparking their early breakaway, with the heady guard scoring 10 points in their 27-8 start before the Kings eventually took the opening quarter at 31-15 and the half at 52-39.