MANILA — Prized import Zach Mason and the towering Greg Slaughter once again delivered the one-two punch for the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings as they came from behind to topple the tough-as-nail Air21 Express, 84-76, Tuesday night in the PBA Governors' Cup at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum. The Kings grabbed the solo top spot in the standings with their third straight victory. The Express suffered their first loss in three outings to forge a four-way tie for second to fifth place with Alaska, San Miguel Beer and defending champion San Mig Super Coffee, which defeated Meralco in the opening match. Mason paced the Kings with 22 points, six of them in the pivotal fourth quarter. The young former US collegiate star, was an impressive 8-of-10 from the field and a perfect 5-of-5 from the free throw line. He also had nine rebounds, and five assists. Slaughter finished with 12 points, 10 of them in the final period. The 6'11” rookie center also snared 15 rebounds and four assists. Japeth Aguilar added 10 points, while JJ Helterbrand had nine built on three straight triples that sparked Ginebra's mighty run in the fourth quarter. The Kings won despite losing the rebounding battle to the smaller but more agile Express, 52-46. However, the Express shot themselves in the foot after sinking just six of 22 free throws for a horrible 27.3 percent clip. Twenty of those free throws were taken by Air21's frontliners Dominique Sutton and Asi Taulava. Sutton hit just 2-of-9 free throws while Taulava was even worse at 3-of-11. Defense also played a key role in the Ginebra victory as the Kings limited the Express to 39.8 percent shooting from the field (33-of-83). Ginebra had a decent mark of 30-of-71 (42.3 percent) from the floor and 18-of-25 (72 percent) from the line. It was a huge letdown for the Express who came into the game averaging 102 points in their last two games. Ginebra faces a tougher challenge Sunday when coach Jeffrey Cariaso goes up against his mentor Tim Cone of the San Mig Super Coffee Mixers. San Mig Coffee 108, Meralco 90 The San Mig Super Coffee Mixers bounced back from a 92-90 defeat to the San Miguel Beermen Sunday night with an emphatic 108-90 victory over the Meralco Bolts. The Mixers notched their second win in three outings despite the ejection of star forward Marc Pingris in the second quarter after he punched Meralco's James Sena in retaliation for a shot to the ribs he received from the Meralco bruiser. PJ Simon paced the Mixers with 22 points. Import Marqus Blakely added 16 points, 18 rebounds and five blocks. Three other Mixers scored in double digits — Mark Barroca with 15, James Yap 13, and Pingris 10. The Bolts suffered their fourth straight loss, pushing them in the brink in of early elimination as they remained stuck in the bottom of the standings. Returning import Mario West led Meralco with 31 points but was limited to just two in the final period when the Mixers began pulling away from a tight contest. Games Wednesday: San Miguel Beermen vs. Barako Bull Energy; and Rain or Shine Elasto Painters vs. Talk N Text Tropang Texters.
