The Petron Blaze Boosters tallied a second consecutive win while Barangay Ginebra Kings stretched their winning streak to three as the sister teams posted contrasting victories last night in the 38th PBA Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.
The Boosters handily defeated the cellar-dwelling Globalport Batang Pier, 110-81, in the curtain-raiser while the Kings survived a close finish to edge out the Alaska Aces, 96-93, in the main game.
Mark Caguioa unloaded 13 of his 24 points points in the fourth period as the Kings evened their record to 5-5 (win-loss).
The Aces absorbed their fourth straight defeat, struggling to pick up the needed wins after mustering five straight victories. The slide pulled the Aces down to the bottom half of the standings with a 5-6 record.
Petron, meanwhile, followed up its 96-86 win over the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters with another solid outing behind the combined forces of Chris Lutz and Arwind Santos.
Lutz scattered 22 points, six rebounds and six assists, while Santos piled up 20 markers and 13 boards.
The Boosters, who improved to 5-6, also got a solid contribution from Cebuano big man June Mar Fajardo, who returned from injury to contribute 14 points and seven rebounds in 25 minutes of action. Marcio Lassiter and Jay Washington also scored in double figures with 10 points each.
The Boosters went to work early and close the first quarter with a 27-15 lead. It was all Petron show after that.
Petron was hot in the first, making 20 of their 36 attempts from the field to lead by a mile the bend, 58-34.
Globalport, meanwhile, tasted its sixth straight defeat to drop to 1-9.