Red Bull defeats Ginebra, 84-79

After a disappointing loss last Friday against the Coca-Cola Tigers, the Red Bull Barakos bounced back on Sunday with a big 84-79 victory against crowd favorite Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings in the second game of the PBA Talk N Text Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum. The loss dropped Ginebra’s record to 3-1, in a tie for second place with the Barakos. Unlike in their last game where they were completely dominated by the rookie-laden Coca Cola Tigers’ in a losing effort, 105-86, the Barakos were full of energy and consistency against the Gin Kings as they led after three quarters after falling behind early in the ball game. "We didn't show any character during our last game. But against Ginebra, we proved that we can compete with any other team especially if we are in our right element," Red Bull coach Yeng Guaio said. Red Bull managed to defeat Ginebra despite missing the services of their 1-2 punch in the form of Lordy Tugade due to injury and the sweet-shooting Junty Valenzuela who was suspended for one game due to two flagrant fouls he committed in their last game against Coke. Red Bull was leading by three points, 59-56, at the start of the final period when the Barakos went on a 10-2 run courtesy of former La Salle enforcer Carlos Sharma, Larry Fonancier, and former UST Tigers stalwart Cyrus Baguio, to give their team a comfortable lead, 68-58, with less than 9 minutes left. Ginebra, behind their pressing defense and a 2-3 zone, managed to cut the deficit to five via the hot hands of former PBA Rookie of the Year Mark Caguioa. But Red Bull went on a 5-0 run courtesy of a jump shot by Leo Najorda and the three-point shot of Penissi to put the lead to eight points, 80-72, less than five minutes left. A 7-0 run courtesy of the "Fast and the Furious" tandem of Caguioa and JayJay Helterbrand, cut the Barakos lead to one, 80-79, with two minutes left. After Penissi scored on a hard layup to push Red Bull ahead, 82-79, Ginebra failed to cash in on their shots via several offensive rebounds, to give the ball back to the Barakos. However, after a time-out by coach Guiao, Red Bull turned the ball over after an inbounds play giving the ball back to Ginebra with 28 seconds left in the ball game. Ginebra set up a play for star center Eric Menk in hopes of reducing or tying the game, but he muffed his semi-hook shot giving back the ball to Red Bull. Villanueva, who was adjudged Player na Walang Katulad, with 24 big points and 12 rebounds, put the icing on the cake on the game after a fastbreak layup, 84-79. Ginebra has more offensive rebounds, 29 compared to Red Bull’s 10, but that only translated to four points for the crowd darling. The Gin Kings also has more turn-overs with 22 as against Red Bull nine. Ginebra went on an 12-2 run during the last four minutes of the third quarter to tie Red Bull at 54-all with less than three minutes left in the third canto behind the heroics of Caguioa and the do-it-all Rudy Hatfiedld. After a free throw by Penissi, Sharma scored on two successive jump shots after consecutive turn-overs by the Gin Kings to push their lead to five, 59-54. However, Helterbrand scored on a tight jump shot to cut the lead to three, 59-56, at the end of the third quarter. A big Sunday crowd of about 14,996 went to the Araneta Coliseum to witness the battle of the bitter foes. Menk was a disappointment during the first half after scoring only two points. Caguioa was left to take the scoring cudgels for the Kings with 10 big points followed by Rudy Hatfield with eight points. Menk finished the ball game with 12 points and eight rebounds while Hatfield has 12 points and 21 rebounds for the Gin Kings. Ginebra was led by the 22 points and eight rebounds of Caguioa. Penissi and Sharma, meanwhile, contributed 22 big points and 12 rebounds, respectively for the Barakos side. Quarter scores: 23-21, 43-37, 59-56, 84-79

GMANews.TV