MANILA – The B-Meg Llamados limited Mark Caguioa to just three points Sunday night as they snapped Barangay Ginebra's four-game winning streak with an 82-70 win at the jampacked Smart-Araneta Coliseum in the semifinals of the PBA Governors' Cup. With their ninth win in 13 games, the Llamados assured themselves of at least a playoff spot in the Finals. The Kings suffered their first loss in the semis after three straight wins as they dropped to an 8-5 win-lost card. They now have to defeat the Talk N Text Tropang Texters in their last semis game on Wednesday to force a playoff for the second finals berth with the four-of-five incentive. On Monday, the Texters (7-5) will try to remain in contention for the title as they go up against the leading Rain or Shine Elasto Painters (9-3) who have already booked themselves at least a playoff spot in the Finals. Marc Pingris starred for the Llamados with a season-high 24 points and 13 rebounds. But the real key to B-Meg's victory was the Llamados' stifling defense on Ginebra hotshot Caguioa, who was averaging more than 20 points a game in the Kings' last three semifinal games. Caguioa was held to just three free throws and 0-of-12 shooting from the field. Marqus Blakely chipped in 17 points and 11 rebounds for the Llamados, who bounced back from a disappointing 104-101 loss to the also-rans Meralco Bolts. James Yap and Rafi Reavis added 11 points each. B-Meg will try to secure an outright Finals slot when they play the Painters in the final day of the semis on Wednesday. Cedric Bozeman led the Kings with 22 points and 13 rebounds. Jayjay Helterbrand and Kerby Raymundo chipped in 16 and 14 points respectively. In the opener of Sunday's twinbill, the Meralco Bolts survived a scare from the Petron Blaze Boosters to eke out a 113-112 victory. Mario West hit the game-winner on a difficult twisting drive after eluding three defenders as the game was winding down. West finished with a game-high 41-points in 48 minutes of action. West's heroics came after Alex Cabagnot knocked in a triple to grab the lead for the Boosters, 112-111, with 5.7 seconds remaining. Cabagnot finished with 29 points, seven rebounds and 10 assists. Mark Cardona chipped in 26 markers for the Bolts while Chris Ross had a near triple-double with 10 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists. The Bolts (6-8) ended their campaign with back-to-back wins to grab fifth place in the season-ending conference. The Boosters dropped to 6-8 in the conference and 23-23 this season, their worst output in the last four years.
