Gin Kings lord it over

Coach Allan Caidic had serious talks with his team the past two days and the Barangay Ginebra Kings took it to heart.

Challenged by their mentor, the Gin Kings responded in the affirmative, bucking the absence of Vergel Meneses as they stunned the fancied Purefoods Hotdogs, 75-73, in the PBA All Filipino Cup at the Araneta Coliseum last night.

Alex Crisano came out of his shell while Jun Limpot and rookie Mark Caguioa stepped up their games with Meneses in sickbay as the Gin Kings ended a long slump versus the Hotdogs in their head-on matches, scoring a reversal that sent them into second place on a 4-2 win-loss mark.

Crisano dished out what could be his finest game in the league with a career-high 19 points that went with eight rebounds, one assist and one block while Limpot came up with a double-double job with 24 points and 13 rebounds and Caguioa added 17 points, six rebounds, four steals and three assists in a sterling all-round game.

"I gave them some tongue-lashing the last time out then I had serious talks with them Friday and Saturday. Obviously, it worked with my players coming out with a lot of fire tonight," said Caidic, who last Wednesday gave his players a mouthful after nearly bungling a won-game versus Mobiline for relaxing in the fourth quarter.

This time, the Kings hardly relaxed and went on to make it two in a row at the expense of the Hotdogs who suffered their third defeat against the same number of victories.

For Purefoods slotman Andy Seigle, it proved to be a very bad day.

Earlier in the day, Seigle barely got out of his Valle Verde 2 house alive while it was razed by fire. A big part of the house was already up in flames when the 6-foot-10 player was awakened by his pet dog.

Seigle also lost millions when his house in the nearby Valle Verde 3 in Pasig went in blaze in 1999.

Obviously affected by the incident, the Fil-Am player struggled in the game, going 5-of-21 from the field to finish with only nine points.

Limpot, Crisano and Caguiao proved to be the biggest thorns in Purefoods’bid as they took turns in delivering savage blows in the contest.

The trio themselves teamed up in a decisive 9-4 exchange that all but settled the outcome of the game with Ginebra King taking a 73-65 lead with a minute left to play.