Bgy. Ginebra wins pulling away

In a rare moment for Barangay Ginebra nowadays, the Kings hardly took out a sweat last night as they demolished the injury-plagued Purefoods squad, 112-78, in the Samsung PBA Mabuhay Cup qualifying round at the Araneta Coliseum.

Ginebra simply took advantage of the absence of Andy Seigle, Rey Evangelista and Boyet Fernandez in the Purefoods lineup, making the Hotdogs look like a lowly college squad in fashioning out the wire-to-wire victory.

The 34-point winning margin was Ginebra’s largest in the last five years.

"At least may chance pa (to make it to the Mabuhay Cup tournament proper) although we have no complete control of our destiny because of our loss to Sta. Lucia," said Ginebra coach Allan Caidic.

The Kings kept a flickering hope for a stint in the mid season invitational tourney as they snapped a four-game losing skein dating back to the All-Filipino Cup quarterfinals.

The Hotdogs bowed out of the race as they suffered a second straight defeat following a loss to the Shell Turbochargers on July 2.

With the loss, the Hotdogs – beaten in all their last six games in the All-Filipino stretched their worst losing skid ever in a season to eight games.

"We got a big break with Seigle sitting out of the game. Without him hindi na naming kinakailangang mag-double. Yun ang naging malaking problema namin against Sta. Lucia, kasi pwersado kaming mag-double kay Dennis Espino and Marlou Aquino," said Caidic.

Eric Menk came up with his 11th double-double game in the season with 27 points and 12 rebounds while Aris Dimaunahan scored a personal career high 20 points to lead the Ginebra juggernaught.

Sunday Salvacion and Mark Caguioa actually also played big with both finishing in double figures with 16 and 15 points, respectively.

"We’re still adjusting on the loss of Jun Limpot. Si Menk at Caguioa siguradong makukuha ang average nila. Ang problema namin kung sino ang magpupuno sa 18 points average ni Limpot. Good thing today was Salvacion and Dimaunahan stepped up," said Caidic.

The 34-point loss is the worst by any team in the league since San Miguel Beer beat Red Bull, 102-68, in Game 3 of their best-of-five semis in the Commissioner’s Cup on Aug. 28 last year.

Ginebra’s 112-point production, meanwhile, is the third highest this season. It’s Ginebra’s highest output since a 121-118 overtime loss to Sta. Lucia in the Governors Cup elims on Oct. 5, 2001.