By Michael Angelo S. Murillo, Senior Reporter

THE PHILIPPINE Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup title defense of the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings is still alive after beating the Magnolia Hotshots Ang Pambansang Manok, 106-80, in Game Two of their best-of-three affair on Tuesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum to book a spot in the semifinals.

The Kings, who are up 1-0 in the series entering the game, used a fiery third quarter to leave the Hotshots in the dust from which the latter could not recover from.

The win made Barangay Ginebra the first team to advance to the next round of the midseason PBA tournament while Magnolia saw its tournament campaign come to an end.

The Hotshots established early momentum in the game with Jio Jalalon and import Rakeem Christmas towing their team to an 11-4 lead at the onset.

But the Kings surged as the opening quarter advanced, coming to within three points, 17-14, with five minutes to go in the frame.

Scottie Thompson and import Justin Brownlee helped complete the comeback for Barangay Ginebra as they went up, 24-23, when the first-quarter smoke cleared.

In the second canto, the teams struggled early on to get their offense going.

Veteran Mark Caguioa came off the bench to give the Kings a spark, accounting for six of the team’s first eight points in the quarter to position the team to a 32-26 advantage at 8:38 mark.

Magnolia managed to pull even at 32-all two minutes later behind Mr. Christmas and Rafi Reavis.

Barangay Ginebra, however, would finish the quarter in a flurry anew, outscoring Magnolia, 15-7, for the remainder to build a 47-39 lead at the half.

Mr. Brownlee and Japeth Aguilar kept the Kings’ offense going to start the third quarter, pulling their team to a 17-point separation, 61-44, with just three minutes and a half lapsing.

Barangay Ginebra kept pounding on Magnolia after, stretching its lead to as high as 23 points, 81-58, at one point.

They eventually settled for an even bigger lead of 27 points, 87-60, entering the final quarter.

Firmly in control of the match, the Kings went for an early kill.

They made it a 35-point lead, 97-62, in the first four minutes and it was all Barangay Ginebra from there.

Mr. Brownlee led a balanced Barangay Ginebra attack with 30 points while also pulling down nine rebounds and dishing out six assists.

Mr. Aguilar had 18 points with LA Tenorio, Mr. Caguioa and Stanley Pringle adding 13, 12 and 11 points, respectively.

For Magnolia it was Mr. Barroca who showed the way with 17 points.

Mr. Christmas had 15 points and eight rebounds with Ian Sangalang adding 12 points.

Mr. Jalalon had eight points, 10 rebounds and six assists for the Hotshots, who are missing the Final Four for the first time under coach Chito Victolero.

“We just had more firepower today than them. We didn’t expect this big win but we really prepared hard for this after not playing so well in the first game,” said Barangay Ginebra coach Tim Cone after the game.

“We played with a lot of determination and that changed the narrative for us,” he added.

Barangay Ginebra now awaits the winner of the quarterfinals between top seeds TNT KaTropa and Alaska Aces, who are to play in a decider set for today.

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