Gin Kings beat Realtors, 113-85, to get into PBA semis

MANILA, Philippines – The Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings dominated the Sta. Lucia Realtors throughout their quarterfinals game, scoring an easy 113-85 win on Wednesday in the Smart-PBA Fiesta Conference at the Ynares Center in Antipolo. The Gin Kings used a balanced scoring attack to complete a 2-0 sweep of the import-less Realtors in their best-of-three quarterfinal series. Before the start of Game 2, the Sta. Lucia management let go of reinforcement Lee Benson after finally getting fed up with the enigmatic import's constant salary demands. "He (Benson) was making so many demands," said Realtors team manager Buddy Encarnado. "Actually it's okay to make demands, but when you try to threaten management of not playing because you didn't get something that you demanded, that's not right." The last straw for Sta. Lucia management came when Benson did not attend the team's practice on the eve of the Realtors' Wednesday game against the Kings. Playing without 6-foot-10 Benson, the Realtors tried to put up a brave front against the Kings, only for reality to set upon them when the league's crowd darling began hitting their strides from the outside. Except for a brief spell in the early minutes, the Kings never trailed in the lopsided contest. The Kings went up by seven after the first 12 minutes, before padding the lead to more than a dozen at the half as Jayjay Helterbrand, Junthy Valenzuela, and Mark Caguioa combined for 30 of the Kings' total output of 56 after two quarters. Ginebra also shot an impressive 71 percent from the three-point range by halftime (10-of-14) while the Realtors were just a paltry 14 percent (1-of-7) from the same range. Kelly Williams, the leading contender for the league's Most Valuable Player (MVP), carried the fight for the embattled Realtors by top scoring for 23 points, but proved no match to Ginebra's superb firepower in the end. Helterbrand paced the Kings with 22 while import Chris Alexander dominated inside with 19, including the game's best play, a breakaway dunk off a Caguioa assist with eight minutes to go for a 92-65 Ginebra lead. Then in the third quarter, the Kings slowly pulled away with guard Paul Artadi orchestrating their offensive plays. Artadi finished with a conference high 12 points, 11 assists, and six steals. The Gin Kings' lead ballooned to as much as 33 points, 101-68, with 6:09 remaining. Up next for Ginebra is the second seeded Red Bull Barakos, who clinched an outright semis berth as early as two weeks ago. Game 1 of their best-of-seven series starts Sunday. - GMANews.TV