Gins oust Zoomers, complete Final 8

Barangay Ginebra squandered an early 17-point lead and had to watch Shell Velocity self-destruct in their endgame rally to salvage a 71-68 victory and the last slot in the Alaxan PBA All-Filipino Cup quarterfinals last night at the Araneta Coliseum.

The Zoom Masters fouled up from the foul line in the final seconds and saw an early end to their title-retention campaign, allowing the Gin Kings to set up a quarterfinals matchup with elimination round topnotcher Tanduay.

The quarterfinals playoffs begin Wednesday with Tanduay and Ginebra clashing at 5:15 p.m. and fourth seed Purefoods taking on No. 5 Sta. Lucia Realty at 7:30 p.m. at the Philsprots Arena.

Both the Rhum Masters and the Hotdogs need to win only once to reach the semifinals while the Gin Kings and the Realtors must win twice.

The other quarters pairest pit No. 2 SanMiguel Beer against No. 7 Mobiline and No. 3 Alaska Milk agaisnt No. 6 Pop Cola.

'"Tanduay is a tough asssignement,we'll try or best. We'll prepare something for them in our practice," said Ginebra coach Allan Caidic.

Against Shell, Caidic said they had little time to prepare but watching their effort paid off nonetheless as they kept their bid of matching or surpassing the franchise's third place finish in the tournament last year.