MANILA — The Meralco Bolts outsteadied the Barangay Ginebra Kings in the endgame, winning, 102-99, on Sunday night in the PBA Governors' Cup to enhance their drive for a Top 4 finish with the twice-to-beat advantage in the playoffs. The Bolts improved to a 6-4 win-loss card, in a tie with GlobalPort at fourth to fifth spot in the standings. The loss was the seventh loss in 10 games for Ginebra, dimming its hopes of making it to the next round with only one game left in its elimination round schedule – against the tough Barako Bull Energy Wednesday, June 17. Import Andre Emmett led the Bolts to victory, scoring a team-high 34 points, including Meralco's last six points in the game. With 32.9 seconds left, Emmett drained a difficult shot over Japeth Aguilar, giving Meralco the lead, 101-99. The Meralco defense then forced Ginebra import Orlando Johnson to lose the ball. Emmet then split his charities, giving the Kings one last chance to tie the score and force an extension with a three-pointer. However, Sol Mercado missed a hurried three-point shot as the final buzzer sounded. Jared Dillinger, Reynel Hugnatan and Seiya Ando scored 12 points apiece for Meralco. The Kings missed top gunner Mark Caguioa who is out of the season with a finger injury. Johnson led Ginebra with 25 points but only five other Kings scored a basket. Despite playing with a sense of urgency as another loss would most likely doomed their chances of entering the playoffs, the Kings still had a difficult time matching up with the Bolts. The game was played intensely right from the get-go with Jared Dillinger and Mercado nearly coming to blows in the third quarter. Both players plus Meralco's Gary David, who joined the scuffle, were assessed technical founds. GlobalPort 102, Kia 94 Jarrid Famous made sure he will long be remembered in the PBA as he churned out monstrous numbers to lead the GlobalPort Batang Pier to a 102-94 victory over the Kia Carnival. The 6'11” import exploded with 30 points and 37 rebounds on top of three blocks as he nearly equalled the total 40 team rebounds made by Kia for the game. Famous' rebounds number was the biggest the PBA has seen since 1985 when Ginebra import Michael Hackett set the record of 45 rebounds, according to the league's record book. By notching its sixth win in 10 games, GlobalPort thus moved into a two-way tie with Meralco at fourth to fifth spot in the standings. Terrence Romeo also starred once again for GlobalPort, dropping 27 points, 13 of them in the fourth quarter where he nailed three triples. The last of those three-pointers proved to be the dagger that broke Kia's back with 29 seconds remaining. Despite the loss, Kia remained in the hunt for a playoff spot with an even 4-4 card, good for solo seventh place in the standings. Games Tuesday: San Miguel Beermen vs. Blackwater Elite and Purefoods Star Hotshots vs. Talk N Text Tropang Texters.
