Hotdogs claim another thriller

For the second straight game, Purefoods salvaged what had looked like a lost cause while Barangay Ginebra blew away what could have been a won game.

Struggling offensively, the Hotdogs toughened up on defense at crunch time and scored a stirring 60-58 come-from-behind win over the Kings in the Samsung PBA Governors Cup at the Philsports Arena last night.

Derrick Brown carried the scoring load for Purefoods practically by his lonesome but Leonard White, Alvin Patrimonio, Rey Evangelista and Ronnie Magsanoc put up a tough defense in the stretch as they stole the game away from the Kings, duplicating their effort against the Talk N Text Phone Pals last Saturday.

Purefoods, thus, gained a share of the lead with Red Bull with identical 2-0 win-loss slates. Ginebra remained winless in two starts.

"Ginebra did a good job almost throughout. We couldn’t play our game but I told the boys we can find a way to win the game. In the end, defense did it," said coach Ryan Gregorio, acting coach at Purefoods with head coach Eric Altamirano on loan to the national team.

Brown followed up his 32-point outing against Talk N Text with a 35-point explosion punctuated by a decisive five-point binge that staked Purefoods ahead at 60-58 with time down to one minute.

Actually, the Hotdogs trailed by five at 53-58 entering the last three minutes of the game but they came up with a 7-0 finishing kick to overhaul the deficit and send the Kings reeling to a second straight defeat following similar sorry loss to the Alaska Aces in Malolos last Friday.

The Kings suffered a terrible offensive breakdown in the last two minutes, going 0-of-8 in that period.

Up to the dying seconds, the Kings had the opportunity to send the game into overtime but Bubba Wells muffed a close-range jumper while Mark Caguioa missed a long try at the buzzer.

It was a bitter loss to the Kings who controlled the tempo of the game early despite bucking the loss of key players to injury.

Jum Limpot was still recuperating from a back spasm, Banjo Calpito smarting from a stress fracture while Bal David was down with flu.

The Kings held their own in the first half, with Wells doins well and Jarrod Gee redeeming himself from his disappointing showing against Alaska Friday.

Gee buckled down to work early, completing a double-double job even before the halftime break with 10 points and the same number of rebounds.

The 6-foot-5 former University of Illinois mainstay had back-to-back baskets in a 14-4 finish by the Kings in the second quarter, enabling the team to carry a 37-30 advantage into the second half.