Kings crack last 8

MANILA, Philippines —  Barangay Ginebra would rather take the uncomplicated route to the PBA Governors’ Cup playoffs than go through tiebreaker.

Though a 23-point loss would be enough to seal their quarterfinal entry on superior quotient, the Gin Kings settled the matter for themselves with a 101-96 clincher over Blackwater last night at Ynares Center-Antipolo.

Coach Tim Cone and his troops, thus, finished group play with a 5-5 record, effectively booting out Meralco (4-6) and Blackwater (3-7) from the Last-8 picture.

The Gin Kings took the No. 3 seeding in Group B behind Magnolia (7-3) and Rain or Shine (6-4), relegating Phoenix (5-5) to No. 4.

Cone and Co. set themselves up for a best-of-five showdown in the quarters with Group A No. 2 San Miguel Beer.

Other quarters pairings pit Group A No. 1 NLEX against Group B No. 4 Phoenix, Group B topnotcher Magnolia against Group A No. 4 and defending champion TNT, and Group B No. 2 ROS against Group A No. 3 Converge.

The Elasto Painters earlier secured their high ranking in their group with a 133-103 rout of the Fuel Masters.

ROS coach Yeng Guiao said the pre-game instruction was explicit: Get on “playoffs mode” now.

“Before ’yung laro, ang bilin ko lang sa players, mas maganda kung mananalo tayo, papasok tayo ng quarters on a winning note,” said Guiao.

“That would be a good starting point for us tapos building habits din. Gusto namin ’yung mentality, pang-playoffs, ’yung effort, playoffs effort na. Pinu-push ko talaga mga bata kasi parang physical and mental preparation na rin namin ito para sa playoffs.”

Jhonard Clarito turned in his best performance of the conference – 18 points and 11 rebounds to go with five assists – after early struggles.

Good sign for ROS.

“Noong unang games namin galing ako sa dengue. Medyo bumaba resistensya ko and then kundisyon ko medyo nawala. Buti ngayon medyo bumabalik na, nagte-training lang ako lagi para bumalik kundisyon ko, para makahabol ako sa playoffs,” he said.

Clarito shared scoring honors with import Aaron Fuller, who added eight boards.