Barako Bull arrests Ginebra’s win streak

Barako Bull Energy put an end to a four-game slide while halting the Barangay Ginebra Kings’ searing five-game win run with an 83-79 decision last night in the first game of the PBA Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.

In the second game, the San Mig Coffee Mixers beat the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, 93-92, to improve to 9-3 (win-loss). Rain or Shine dropped to 8-5.

Chalking up a badly needed victory, Barako Bull tied Air21 at the eight and ninth spots with identical 4-9  records.

Teams are avoiding  the ninth and 10th places since the bottom two squads will be booted out after the 14-game elimination round. First to get the boot was Globalport, which is mired at last place with a woeful 1-11 record.

The loss hurt Ginebra’s chances of getting a higher seeding in the quarterfinal round.  Instead of tightening its hold of the fourth spot, Ginebra dropped into a three-way tie for the fourth to sixth spots with the Alaska Aces and the Meralco Bolts with similar 7-6 records.

Barako Bull bagged its first win under head coach Bong Ramos, who filled the void vacated by the sacked Junel Baculi.

“Coach Bong was already depressed because of our losses. That’s why we were focused going into the game,” said Roger Yap in a televised interview after the game.

The veteran Cebuano point was named the Best Player of the Game by tallying 14 points and five assists. Yap was instrumental in thwarting Ginebra’s comeback attempt as he nailed a straight-away triple that made it 79-71 with 48.4 seconds left.