MANILA — Reigning MVP Mark Caguioa sizzled for 29 points, 16 of them in the final quarter, to lead the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings to a scintillating 109-104 win against the hard-fighting GlobalPort Batang Pier Thursday night in the PBA's PLDT MyDSL Philippine Cup at the Mall of Asia Arena. Ginebra thus remained undefeated in three games, tying sister team Petron Blaze at the top of the standings. Down by 17 points, 83-66, in the final quarter, the Batang Pier led by rookie sensation Terrence Romeo ignited a 27-8 run to grab the lead at 93-91 with four minutes left. Refusing to be cowed by the young guns of GlobalPort, Caguioa then took matters into his own hands. He began with a three-pointer to give the lead back to Ginebra. He then drilled two free throws, fed Greg Slaughter for a dunk, scored on a jumper, and then a three-point play as the Kings regained control of the match, 103-95. After Romeo scored on a three-point play to cut Ginebra's lead to six, Caguioa responded with a three-pointer that finally quelled the Batang Pier rally. Japeth Aguilar and Slaughter once again provided the offensive and defensive muscle for the Kings, finishing with 18 and 17 points, respectively. Slaughter also had 11 rebounds. Romeo led GlobalPort with 27 points. RR Garcia, another rookie, also shone for the Batang Pier, finishing with 20 points. Jay Washington added 23 points for GlobalPort, which suffered its second loss in three games to tie idle Meralco at sixth to seventh places. Talk N Text 114, Alaska 111 (OT) Jayson Castro exploded for 33 points to propel the Talk N Text Tropang Texters to a pulsating 114-111 overtime victory against the Alaska Aces in the first match of the rare Thursday double-header. Nicknamed the “Blur” for his cat-quick reflexes, Castro zipped past Alaska's defenders with 2:11 left in overtime to score a three-point play, putting the Texters ahead, 109-108. After an exchange of three-pointers by TNT's Jimmy Alapag and Alaska's Dondon Hontiveros, the latter had a chance to regain the lead for the Aces after he was fouled by Alapag. Hontiveros, however, missed both free throws with 15 ticks left. The Aces then sent Kelly Williams to the line. Williams split his charities, giving the Aces another chance to level the score or even wrest the lead with a triple. But JVee Casio — who earlier sent the game into overtime with a three-pointer with 12 seconds left — missed an easy layup. After Harvey Carey split his free throws, Casio flung a desperation three-pointer but his shot did not even touch the rim as the final buzzer sounded. The victory was the second in three games for the Texters while the Aces suffered their second straight loss after winning their first game.
