MANILA — Diminutive rookie guard Eman Monfort again stood like a giant as he, together with import Mike Singletary, led the Barako Bull Energy Cola to a 104-91 thumping of the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings Friday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in the PBA Governors Cup. Monfort, who at 5'7” is the league's smallest player, buried a dagger three-pointer and then converted on fastbreak layup to halt a furious Kings' comeback in the homestretch. Down by 18 points at the start of the fourth quarter, the Kings unleashed a 13-2 run to cut Barako Bull's lead to just seven points, 87-80. The Energy Cola responded with a 7-0 blast to push their lead back to 14, 94-80,with four minutes left en route to their third straight victory after debuting with a loss. Barako Bull thus joined Petron at the top of standings while the Kings suffered their second defeat in three games. Monfort finished with a career-high 25 points, including 17 in the second half, earning for himself the Best Player of the Game honor for the second time in two weeks. Pitted against Ginebra's ace point guard LA Tenorio, Monfort proved to be the better playmaker and defender, limiting his more illustrious rival to just four points on a miserable 1-of-10 shooting from the field. Import Mike Singletary led Barako Bull with 38 points and 17 rebounds, winning his duel with Ginebra counterpart Dior Lowhorn, who finished with 30 and nine boards. The Kings not only crumbled in defeat but also appeared to have lost prized new big man Japeth Aguilar to a suspected sprained MCL. The 6-foot-9 Aguilar was fouled hard while trying to go for a slam dunk early in the first quarter. He fell to the floor and appeared to have suffered a serious knee injury. Mark Caguioa, the reigning league MVP, continued to struggle with his offense, scoring 13 points mostly on free throws. He shot just 3-of-13 from the field. Billy Mamaril added 14 points for Ginebra. In the first match of the Friday twinbill, Mario West led an electrifying assault by the Meralco Bolts in the fourth quarter to zap sister team Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters, 92-86. West exploded for a career-high 47 points, 17 of them in the final quarter, to lead the Bolts' uprising from a 13-point deficit at halftime. Power forward Cliff Hodge added 18 points for Meralco. The win snapped Meralco's two-game losing streak as the Bolts improved to a 2-2 win-loss slate. Gilas players Jason Castro, Larry Fonacier and Ranidel de Ocampo finally suited up for TNT after a two-week break. Castro scored 18 points while Fonacier had 11. De Ocampo bled for just two points on 1-of-10 shooting. The Texters were led by import Tony Mitchell who scored 32 points. However, Mitchell's efforts were not enough to prevent TNT from losing its second straight game and falling down to 1-2 in the rankings.
