Kings seize pivotal 3-2 lead

MANILA, Philippines — In the first five minutes of the third quarter, Meralco went pounding and created a 15-point separation against Ginebra.

Typical of their never-say-die attitude, the Gin Kings countered with a 23-10 blast capped by LA Tenorio’s buzzer-beating trey to end that period down by just manageable two points.

This provided coach Tim Cone and his charges the needed lift and momentum to put together a pivotal 89-84 Game 5 victory and a 3-2 lead against the Bolts in the PBA Philippine Cup semifinals last night at the MOA Arena.

Christian Standhardinger provided the power to Ginebra’s strong finishing kick, hitting jumper after jumper from mid-range to help the crowd darlings overtake Meralco in this race for the go-ahead win No. 3.

Standhardinger produced 11 points in the third and added eight more capped by a clutch jumper that secured an 89-84 cushion in the last 1:26 in his brilliant outing of 34 markers, 10 rebounds and five assists.

After trailing in the series, 1-2, the Gin Kings have now won back-to-back, including a 90-71 equalizer prior to this, with a chance to close it out on Wednesday.

“The guys really kept their heads, moved forward and moved on and just found a way to grind out two wins,” said Cone.

It was a grind, all right, as they had to fight back from a 44-59 deficit in the penultimate period and a 73-79 disadvantage in the last 8:21 of the fourth before pulling through.

“It took us a bit to really get into battle mode. We weren’t really reaching deep and battling it out. Then all of a sudden, it started to click. The leaders – Christian, LA, Scottie (Thompson) – really started to step up and the energy started to lift,” said Cone.

“We started to get into battle mode. And once we did, our crowd got into it and that put a lot of pressure on them (Meralco),” he added.

Maverick Ahanmisi (13), Japeth Aguilar (10), Pringle (nine), Thompson (five points, eight rebounds) complemented Standhardinger’s red-hot performance.