Tigers beat Gin Kings, 84-82, for 5th straight win at PBA Cup
12/22/2007 | 01:19 AM
The Coca-Cola Tigers continued their immaculate rise in Friday's main game of the 2007-08 Smart-PBA Philippine Cup, defeating the Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings, 84-82 at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay City.
Rookie sensation Ronjay Buenafe was the hero for the streaking Tigers, scoring a three-point play with 9.1 seconds to help his team edge the crowd favorites.
The victory, the team's fifth straight and sixth over-all, has put them in seventh place in the team standings. The Gin Kings dropped to solo eight place with a 6-9 win-loss card.
Buenafe went scoreless in the first half, apparently because he was too conscious of his parents — who worked in Japan in the last 18 years — watching him.
But he rediscovered his touch in time to uncork 13 points in the second half, highlighted with the three-point play that sent the Tigers to their fifth straight win and sixth overall to jump from second to last to solo seventh place.
"Ronjay was a bit shaky at the start but he found his groove in time to save us," Coca-Cola coach Binky Favis said.
Asi Taulava was held to his scoring low as a Tiger with 10 points, but he found a way to compensate for it by plucking a career-tying high and season-best 26 rebounds.
It was Taulava's sixth straight double-double effort since he was traded to Coke by Talk 'N' Text in exchange for Ali Peek and a 2008 rookie draft pick.
"Ginebra found a way to contain Asi so I told the team to exert extra effort," Favis said. "Fortunately for us, Ronjay stepped up the biggest."
Sunday Salvacion paced the Kings, who missed injured top gun Mark Caguioa, with 19 points, four of them four rainbow connections, but they couldn’t hang on to the win as they fell to a ninth defeat against six triumphs to slide to eighth spot.
After a scoreless first half, Buenafe unloaded eight straight points in a run that transformed a 37-40 deficit to a 54-47 upperhand midway through the third quarter.
But Salvacion unleashed three-point shooting spree, hitting three triples in a closing run that gave Ginebra back a 63-61 lead going into the final period.
Led by Ronald Tubid and Jay Jay Helterbrand, the Kings controlled the pace early on and seized a 24-20 advantage after the opening quarter.
But the Tigers found a way to stymie the Kings’ furious pace with a transition defense that pushed them a little bit closer, 40-37, at the break.
Coca-Cola (84): Cabagnot 17, Buenafe 13, Taulava 10, Dimaunahan 9, Enrile 7, Arigo 7, Calimag 6, Telan 6, Catli 5, Isip 4, Tolomia 0, Duremdes 0
Brgy. Ginebra (82): Salvacion 19, Helterbrand 16, Tubid 12, Menk 12, Macapagal 6, Artadi 6, Reavis 5, Mamaril 4, Escalona 0
Quarters: 20-24; 37-40; 61-63; 84-82
Source: http://www.gmanews.tv/story/73818/Tigers-beat-Gin-Kings-84-82-for-5th-straight-win-at-PBA-Cup
The Coca-Cola Tigers continued their immaculate rise in Friday's main game of the 2007-08 Smart-PBA Philippine Cup, defeating the Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings, 84-82 at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay City.
Rookie sensation Ronjay Buenafe was the hero for the streaking Tigers, scoring a three-point play with 9.1 seconds to help his team edge the crowd favorites.
The victory, the team's fifth straight and sixth over-all, has put them in seventh place in the team standings. The Gin Kings dropped to solo eight place with a 6-9 win-loss card.
Buenafe went scoreless in the first half, apparently because he was too conscious of his parents — who worked in Japan in the last 18 years — watching him.
But he rediscovered his touch in time to uncork 13 points in the second half, highlighted with the three-point play that sent the Tigers to their fifth straight win and sixth overall to jump from second to last to solo seventh place.
"Ronjay was a bit shaky at the start but he found his groove in time to save us," Coca-Cola coach Binky Favis said.
Asi Taulava was held to his scoring low as a Tiger with 10 points, but he found a way to compensate for it by plucking a career-tying high and season-best 26 rebounds.
It was Taulava's sixth straight double-double effort since he was traded to Coke by Talk 'N' Text in exchange for Ali Peek and a 2008 rookie draft pick.
"Ginebra found a way to contain Asi so I told the team to exert extra effort," Favis said. "Fortunately for us, Ronjay stepped up the biggest."
Sunday Salvacion paced the Kings, who missed injured top gun Mark Caguioa, with 19 points, four of them four rainbow connections, but they couldn’t hang on to the win as they fell to a ninth defeat against six triumphs to slide to eighth spot.
After a scoreless first half, Buenafe unloaded eight straight points in a run that transformed a 37-40 deficit to a 54-47 upperhand midway through the third quarter.
But Salvacion unleashed three-point shooting spree, hitting three triples in a closing run that gave Ginebra back a 63-61 lead going into the final period.
Led by Ronald Tubid and Jay Jay Helterbrand, the Kings controlled the pace early on and seized a 24-20 advantage after the opening quarter.
But the Tigers found a way to stymie the Kings’ furious pace with a transition defense that pushed them a little bit closer, 40-37, at the break.
Coca-Cola (84): Cabagnot 17, Buenafe 13, Taulava 10, Dimaunahan 9, Enrile 7, Arigo 7, Calimag 6, Telan 6, Catli 5, Isip 4, Tolomia 0, Duremdes 0
Brgy. Ginebra (82): Salvacion 19, Helterbrand 16, Tubid 12, Menk 12, Macapagal 6, Artadi 6, Reavis 5, Mamaril 4, Escalona 0
Quarters: 20-24; 37-40; 61-63; 84-82
Source: http://www.gmanews.tv/story/73818/Tigers-beat-Gin-Kings-84-82-for-5th-straight-win-at-PBA-Cup
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