Tigers spring back to life, pound Kings

Coca-Cola finally came out of the rut and snapped its five-game skid as it trounced Barangay Ginebra, 99-88, last night in the Gran Matador-PBA Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.

Rafi Reavis and John Arigo each fired seven points in the fourth quarter while Johnny Abarrientos tossed in six points to power the Tigers to their seventh victory in 14 games while denying the Kings of a chance for an outright semifinal berth.

"It was a testament to their never-say-die spirit that they never gave up," said Coca-Cola coach Binky Favis.

Arigo finished with 21 points while Reavis wound up with 14, the same output put in by Ali Peek, who poured them all in the first three quarters.

"It was a breakthrough win for us," said Favis. "We were already pushed into a corner, we were on the foam. We had to come out and throw wild punches."

The victory also spoiled the return of Eric Menk, who missed Ginebra’s last two games because of painful bone spurs in his feet.

The crowd favorites reeled to their seventh defeat against six victories.

This leaves Purefoods Chunkee,Talk ‘N’ Text and Red Bull as the only teams in contention for the second automatic berth in the Final Four.

Mark Caguioa sizzled with 13 points after two quarters but got ejected after incurring his second technical in the third period.

With his ouster, backcourt partner Jayjay Helterbrand stepped up to fire 19 points in the second half, 13 coming in the last 12 minutes when the Kings came within 86-91.

Mark Macapagal came off the bench to fire 11 second-half points, hitting three of five three-point shots, while Menk added 11.