Ginebra thwarts Tanduay

Mark Caguioa and Jayjay Helterbrand played big coming off the bench in the final half, fuelling a decisive fourth-quarter breakaway for Barangay Ginebra, which repeated over Tanduay Rhum, 87-76, last night in the PBA All-Filipino Cup eliminations at the Philsports Arena.

Caguioa scored 11 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter while Helterbrand tallied all but two of his 13 points in the second half as the hustling tandem surprisingly outshone the dreaded Tanduay backcourt pair of Jeffrey Cariaso and Dondon Hontiveros to power the Gin Kings to their fifth win against three losses.

Ginebra, thus, stayed well entrenched in the Magic Four, trailing the pacesetters by only a game while Tanduay fell deeper in the lower half of the chart with a 3-6 win-loss mark.

Not even the presence of Dindo Pumaren, who debuted for Tanduay, could save the Rhum Masters from another setback to the Gin Kings, who delt them a 76-87 defeat in their first meeting last Feb. 3 in Urdaneta, Pangasinan.

But for a while, it appeared the Rhum Masters would exact revenge as they came out strong in the fourth quarter where they grabbed the lead at 61-57.

The Gin Kings, however, put their act together with coach Allan Caidic calling on Caguioa and Helterbrand, who responded well as they keyed their own run which Tanduay failed to match or stop.

In a five-minute stretch midway in the last quarter, the Gin Kings virtually scuttled the Rhum Masters’ bid with a telling 23-7 run.

Caguioa and Helterbrand took over in that stretch and Caidic was so impressed with the duo’s performance that he didn’t bother to send back Vergel Meneses and Bal David..

Meneses scored 15 in the first half but added only two points in the last two quarters while David went scoreless for the first time in a long while.

"The good thing was that Mark (Caguioa) and Jayjay (Helterbrand) delivered," said Caidic. "Jeffrey Cariaso and Dondon Hontiveros were delivering for Tanduay. Mark and Jayjay evened things out while adding some more."

Jun Limpot also played a key role for Ginebra as he scored nine points in the fourth quarter and finished with a total of 20 that went with his eight rebounds, one assist and one block against two turnovers.

Bong Hawkins scored a game-high 21 points while Cariaso, Hontiveros, Zaldy Realubit and Noli Locsin all added 10 points or more. The rest of their teammates, however, could only chip in eight.

Meanwhile, Purefoods filled in the spot vacated by Pumaren by acquiring the services of Ronnie Magsanoc from the free agent pool.

Magsanoc, dropped by Sta. Lucia Realty from its roster at the expiration of his contract last Dec. 31, was signed up by Purefoods for the rest of the year.

In another development, the Commissioner’s Office turned down Mobiline’s appeal for a replay of its game versus Alaska last Wednesday, saying the referee was right on the crucial call protested by the Phone Pals.

John Arigo buried two free throws off a foul by Vic Pablo at the buzzer as the Aces scored a 73-71 squeaker over the Phone Pals in the game.

In its letter of protest, Mobiline claimed Arigo had no clear possession of the ball and that Pablo made no contact on the Alaska player when referee Bernie de Dios called a foul. After a thorough review of the game tape, Commissioner Jun Bernardino said Pablo did commit a foul on Arigo.