Kings topple Aces in 4th quarter rally

CAGAYAN DE ORO – Barangay Ginebra made key stops down the stretch and repulsed league leader Alaska Milk, 84-82, to remain in the hunt for an automatic semifinal berth in the KFC PBA Philippine Cup at the Xavier University Gym here last night.

Eric Menk paced his team with 17 points including a follow-up off a Jay Jay Helterbrand missed lay-up in the closing seconds as the Kings pulled off the win muddling up the race for the two outright semis seats in the playoff phase.

Getting even with the Aces who dealt them an 84-93 loss in their previous tiff, the Kings gained ground in the team standings, jumping past the Air21 Express (8-8) and the Sta. Lucia Realtors (8-8) to seize solo fifth place at 8-7.

With back-to-back defeats, the Aces now hold a precarious half-game lead over the second-running Talk n Text Tropang Texters at 9-6 with the San Miguel Beermen and the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters not far away – both at 9-7.

“This is a big win for us, but we cannot celebrate yet,” said Ginebra coach Jong Uichico.

“We still have three games to go and we know we have to win them all to gain an outright quarterfinals slot,” he added.

Helterbrand drained a triple to give the Kings an 81-75 lead with 3:32 to go but the Aces unloaded a 7-0 blitz to regain the upperhand at 82-81.

The Aces had the game under control until a series of errors allowed the Kings to get back to life, taking the lead to stay on a tip-in by Menk from a missed lay-up by Helterbrand with 24 seconds left to play.