Ranidel de Ocampo took up the cudgels as import Shawn Daniels fouled out with 2:15 left to play, powering the Express to a 109-101 upset of the Ginebra Kings.
De Ocampo scored nine of his 24 points in the last two minutes, and the Express fended off a fierce chase of the Kings for their seventh win in 13 outings.
Beating the Kings for the first time in their last eight meetings, the Express caught up with their victim at third place, just half-game behind the second-running Talk n Text Phone Pals (7-5).
Incidentally, Ginebra was the lone team Air21 wasn’t able to beat last season. The Kings stretched their domination of the Express early in this tourney with a 93-83 win in their first match in the double-round classifications.
But the Express made a big turnaround from that contest, taking the Kings’ number this time on tremendous efforts on both ends of the court.
Daniels, De Ocampo and Renren Ritualo took turns in delivering the goods for Air21 but De Ocampo stood out for personally holding off the Kings’ rally in the homestretch.
De Ocampo took charge for the Express as the Kings came within a basket at 95-97 following a triple by Rodney Santos with 1:57 left to play. Daniels had just fouled out of the game then.
The 6-foot-6 slotman out of St. Francis of Assisi College first drove past Sean Lampley then made two free throws off a foul by Santos.
Regaining control on De Ocampo’s crucial four-point binge, the Express went on to complete a convincing victory in their first game after bowing to the Coca-Cola Tigers, 106-115, last Nov. 20.
Air21 is now 1-1 and Ginebra 0-3 in out-of-town matches this conference.
De Ocampo also marked his 24-point splurge with 4-of-5 shooting from the three-point area. He also had seven rebounds, one assist and one steal in 30 minutes of action.
Daniels paced the team with 30 points with Ritualo adding 15. Sean Lampley led all scorers with 33.
Meanwhile, the pacesetters clash with the tailenders at the resumption of action at the Ynares Center in Antipolo today. Purefoods plays San Miguel at 4:10 p.m. then Talk n Text clashes with Coca-Cola at 6:40 p.m.