Barako Bull climbs up from 21-pt hole to keep Ginebra winless

Barako Bull weathered Greg Slaughter's 27-point, 26-rebound effort to trip Brgy. Ginebra. PBA Images

MANILA, Philippines -- Barako Bull overcame a 21-point deficit early on to keep Brgy. Ginebra winless under Tim Cone with an 82-79 Halloween Thriller on Saturday in the 2015 Smart Bro Philippine Cup at the Mall of Asia Arena.

RR Garcia scored 10 of his 16 points in the pivotal fourth period as the Energy went on a big run to seize a seven-point lead, 80-73.

Before Garcia's heroics, it was Jc Intal, who kept Barako Bull afloat. The Gilas gunner and new dad played a second straight inspired game finishing with a team-high 22 points, 19 in the first three quarters.

Barako Bull had to overcome Greg Slaughter's monster game to pull off its first win.  The Brgy. Ginebra behemoth put up 27 points, 26 boards, four assists and two shotblocks.  But even those big numbers were not enough to carry the Kings to a victory.

It appeared that Brgy. Ginebra was on its way to a bounce back game after erecting a 21-point lead, 27-6, in the opening canto. Barako Bull, however, regrouped in the second quarter to bring the huge deficit to just seven.

It was a nip and tuck game from there.

Only LA Tenorio was the other Ginebra player in double figures with 12 points. Spitfire Mark Caguioa struggled for the second time in a row with six points on 2-of-7 shooting. The veteran guard also muffed the last play where the Kings were looking for a three-pointer to force an overtime. 

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