Ginebra sweeps Red Bull, reaches Fiesta finals

MANILA, Philippines – Barangay Ginebra needed five extra minutes to finally oust Red Bull, 101-97, Sunday at the Araneta Coliseum and advance to the Smart-Philippine Basketball Association Fiesta Cup finals. The Kings came back from a six-point deficit with two-and-a-half minutes left in regulation and then held the Bulls to one field goal in overtime for a shocking semifinal sweep of the no. 2-seeded Red Bull. Mark Caguioa scored a game-high 33 points on 15-of-25 shooting from the floor, while Chris Alexander and Rafi Reavis each pulled down 19 rebounds for Ginebra which will appear in its 17th championship series. “It’s a big, big relief to get into the championship again," said Ginebra coach Jong Uichico, who will make his 12th finals stint and his second with the ball club. “We fought really hard to get where we are right now. Red Bull is really a team that’s hard to read. It just so happens that we had the breaks in the end game." For a team that began the tournament at 0-5 (win-loss), making it to the Finals certainly ranks among the most improbable finishes in league history. It was the 12th straight victory for Ginebra, the longest since Alaska won 13 consecutive in its Grand Slam year in 1996. Furthermore, it was the second straight sweep in the conference by the Gin Kings, who in the quarterfinal round swept Philippine Cup champion Sta. Lucia in a best-of-three affair. The Gin Kings trailed 90-84 with 2:37 left in regulation play before shutting down the Bulls while coming up with six straight points. Ginebra even had the chance to win without going to extra time, but Jay-Jay Helterbrand, who played his worst game in the series (nine points), bungled a fallaway jumper as time expired. Regulation ended at 90-90. In overtime, the Kings made their first four field goals, and of all the players in the Ginebra line-up, it was Paul Artadi who knocked in the biggest shot—a triple from the left quarter court on a perfect set-up by Caguioa that gave the Gin Kings a 99-94 lead with 2:49 left. Reavis stretched the lead to 101-94 with a fast-break dunk, the play he himself triggered after intercepting a pass by Robinson intended for Rich Alvarez. After that basket, Red Bull finally scored its first field goal on a triple by Cyrus Baguio, 101-97. The Bulls, however, missed three attempts from rainbow territory after. Baguio finished with 26 points to lead Red Bull which went into a freefall after a stellar preliminary-round stint. The Barakos were ranked no.2 and drew an automatic berth into the semis, but they never got the kind of production they needed from import Adam Parada who was hampered by injury in the series. Caguioa’s performance was his 30th 30-plus game since entering the league in 2001. Alexander also had 13 points and Sunday Salvacion added 13, a huge lift for a Ginebra team that saw Helterbrand struggle on four-of-16 shooting. – GMANews.TV