Jay R. Gotera Saudi Gazette MANILA — This time, the never-say-die Kings died early. And now, the most popular club in the Philippines is staring at a 0-3 hole at the bottom of the pack. With NBA veteran Renaldo Balkman at his explosive best, the Petron Blaze Boosters pulverized the comatose Barangay Ginebra Kings, 105-90, Sunday in the PBA Commissioner's Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. Strutting incredible energy, hustle, and highlight reel dunks, Balkman toyed with his Ginebra counterpart Herbert Hill and the rest of the Kings as he poured in 34 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked two shots to lead the Boosters to their second-straight win after an opening game loss. Balkman unloaded 17 points, eight of them by way of spectacular dunks, in the pivotal third quarter as the Boosters surged ahead, 83-60, turning a close match into a massacre. Rookie Petron center June Mar Fajardo finished with a personal conference-high of 18 points and seven rebounds, while Jay Washington and Arwind Santos added 14 and 11 points, respectively. Mark Caguioa tried to resuscitate an obviously out-of-sync Ginebra squad, draining shots from all over the court, to cut Petron's lead to 82-95 with less than four minutes left. But that was the closest the Kings could come as Balkman once again burned the hoop with back-to-back baskets. Caguioa finished with a team-high 24 points. LA Tenorio finally found his shooting touch and added 19 points in a losing cause for Ginebra. The Kings suffered their worst and third straight defeat. They earlier lost by four points against the Air21 Express, 70-74, on Feb. 10, and by nine points, 80-89, against GlobalPort Batang Pier last Friday. The forgettable Hill played his last game in the Philippines. Hill was such a picture of frustration that Ginebra head coach Al Chua benched him for the entire fourth quarter. Still, he managed to cough up 16 points, 11 rebounds and six turnovers. Vernon Macklin, a 6-10 second-round draftee by the Detroit Pistons in the 2011 NBA draft, who is set to arrive Monday, will replace Hill. Macklin will be in action Saturday when Ginebra battles the league-leading Alaska Aces (3-0) in road game in Tubod, Lanao del Norte. Petron head coach Olsen Racela expressed delight at his team's efforts, but quickly added that it's still too early in the season to be overly optimistic. “There's still a long way to go,” he said. “It's a process. We're getting there, but it's still a process for this team.” In the first game of the Sunday double-header, the Alaska Aces repulsed the Barako Bull Energy Cola, 77-73, to grab the solo lead in the conference with their third straight victory. Import Robert Dozier led the Aces with 19 points, 20 rebounds, two steals and one block to earn his second Best Player of the Game honors. Cyrus Baguio added 11 points, while JVee Casio had nine markers. Baguio and rookie Calvin Abueva scored a basket each in an 8-3 run in the homestretch to stop the rallying Energy Cola. Barako Bull suffered its first loss in three games. Josh Urbiztondo led the Energy Cola with 15 points, while import Evan Brock added 12 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks.
