Gin Kings trip Tigers in PBA road game

Barangay Ginebra leaned on a 7-0 wind-up to turn back Powerade, 82-75, at the Batangas Coliseum in Batangas City on Saturday to enter the win column of the PBA Philippine Cup . Ronald Tubid, Eric Menk and Rudy Hatfield led the Kings’ offensive onslaught in the final four minutes of the nip-and-tuck affair – the first out-of-town game to be played in the league’s 36th season. Gary David tied the contest for the last time at 75-75 with 3:37 left, before the Kings tamed the Tigers for good. Menk triggered the closing run with two free throws, and capped it with a split with 24 seconds left for the final score. Willie Miller finished with 15 points and Yancy De Ocampo had 10 for the Kings, who bounced back after a 73-72 loss to rookie franchise Meralco Bolts in last week’s season-opening game. Ginebra now holds a 1-1 card to tie the Tigers, a 111-103 winner over the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters in their first outing. Also scoring 10 points each were Hatfield and Tubid. With 2:08 to play, they combined on a crucial fastbreak play initiated by Hatfield with a steal off Chico Lanete, and Tubid completing the drive to the basket for a 79-75 Ginebra lead David had another sterling performance for Powerade with 27 points, 11 of them coming in a scorching third-quarter run as the Tigers outscored the Kings, 25-12. That scoring blitz put Powerade within two, 62-60, with a full quarter to go, after it had trailed by as many as 15 at the half (50-35). Mark Macapagal was the only other Powerade player to finish in double figures with 13 markers. – JVP/KY, GMANews.TV