Importless Ginebra keeps Air21 winless

A little scare towards the end but a win nonetheless.

The Barangay Ginebra Kings survived the late surge by Air 21 despite playing without their import Curtis Stinson to win 89-87 and improve their standings to 3-2 while keeping the Express winless in six games last night at the Araneta Coliseum.

Air 21 got off to a hot start led by the strong performance of Carlo Sharma with 8 points and 5 rebounds in the first quarter and Wynne Arboleda added two 3-pointers as the Express led 24-18 at the end of the first period.

Ginebra cuffed Air 21 in the second period allowing only 9 points as they ran the Express to the ground with John Wilson, Jayjay Helterbrand and Mark Caguioa leading their team to a 41-33 lead at halftime.

JC Intal ignited a huge run to open up the third quarter of the Kings as he scored back to back 3's and a dunk leading to the biggest lead 51-36 for the Kings but Air 21 managed to stay within striking distance towards the end of the quarter.

Air 21 intensified their rally in the fourth quarter with an all Filipino lineup with Alpha Bangura saddled with 4 personal fouls and a non-factor throughout the game with only 7 points, with only 3 markers in the first half in 1/9 shooting from the field mostly due to the tough defense by Ronald Tubid.

KG Canaleta exploited his matchup with Intal in the pay-off period to bring his team within 2 points and a final possession with 3.5 seconds to go but Tubid blocked Alpha Bangura's attempt off a good inbound pass.

Bangura had one last chance to salvage the game for his team but his hurried jumpshot with 2 seconds to go went off the iron, giving the Kings the victory.

Stinson powers Ginebra over Meralco

Reigning NBA D-League MVP Curtis Stinson registered the first triple double in the 2011 PBA Governor's Cup to lead his team to a 97-81 victory over the Meralco Bolts to sieze a 2-1 standing Friday night at the Araneta Coliseum.

Stinson tallied a monster game of 18 points, 13 rebounds and 16 assists while having able support from an explosive performance from the locals to foil Meralco's comeback hopes with timely baskets down the stretch.

Mark Caguioa led scoring for this game with 25 points and he poured ice cold water to the comeback aspirations of the Bolts especially with a dagger jumper with 2 minutes left to finally seal the deal for his team.

Ronald Tubid and Eric Menk bounced back from their poor performance in the loss to Petron last game to scored 17 and 16 points respectively.

Sol Mercado led the losing team with 22 points while their import Champ Oguchi came through with 19 points.

This was Meralco's first loss in three games.

Petron comes from behind to edge out Ginebra

It's not how you start it but how you end it.

The Petron Blaze Boosters shook off a rough start to secure their first win in the 2011 PBA Governors Cup last Sunday, 100-89 against the Brgy. Ginebra Kings at the "Big Dome" Araneta Coliseum.

Jeremy Wise is proving to be worth the wait for Petron as he scored 21 points, 17 of those came in the first half and his matchup with Curtis Stinson of the Kings was a complete reversal after the latter scored majority of his points in the first half.

Stinson scored 22 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists but he was shut down in the second half by the pesky defense of Petron bringing about the abrupt decrease in the offensive efficiency of the Kings in the 2nd half.

Rabeh Al Hussaini topscored together with Wise with 21 points as he dominated the interior for his breakout game of the conferece.

Petron improved it's standing to 1-2 while they dealt the Kings their first loss of the conference.