B-Meg knocks out Barangay Ginebra for finals berth

In a KO match that was befitting to be a Game 7 of the PBA Governors’ Cup, B-Meg edged sister team Barangay Ginebra and moved a step closer toward putting an exclamation point to a dominating season.
Peter June Simon put back a missed jumper by Marcus Blakely with 2.5 seconds left last night and gifted the Llamados with a 73-71 win that put them into the championship series of the season-ending conference opposite Rain or Shine.
“I guess we were lucky that PJ (Simon) was in the right place at the right time,” coach Tim Cone, who will make the 25th Finals appearance of his career, told sportswriters later. “When I saw that jumpshot (by Blakely), I knew we were going into overtime.
“We won by the skins of our teeth,” he continued. “This felt very much like a Game 7 and it is very gratifying to win, especially when you prepared so hard against a team like Ginebra.”
The Llamados, the reigning Commissioner’s Cup champs, led by double digits in the first half but were engaged in a nip-and-tuck affair in the fourth period by the Gin Kings, who failed to win it all when Kerby Raymundo’s triple at the buzzer hit nothing but air.
Raymundo, who was responsible for getting the Kings back in the thick of things with seven third quarter points, actually missed Ginebra’s final two attempts for the game before a sellout crowd at the Araneta Coliseum.
“I saw the attempt (of Blakely) and knew that the miss was coming my way,” Simon, who finished with 11 points, said. “I had nothing else in my mind but to try to snare that rebound and put it in the hoop.
“In a KO game such as this one, no one really has the time to think,” he said.
Game 1 of what Cone expects to be a bruising seven-game series against the Elasto Painters is tomorrow also at the Big Dome.
And Cone announced the readiness of his squad to win a second straight title.
“It’s going to be a very physical series and only the tough guys (in my team) will be playing,” Cone, who has 14 titles under his belt, including a rare Grand Slam with Alaska in 1996, said. “We’ll be ready.” The loss was a bitter one for the Kings, who missed some key attempts in the stretch which could have turned the game around.
Mark Caguioa, who scored in twin digits for the first time in three games against the B-Meg defense in the tournament, had 14 markers but was effectively silenced in the fourth period.
Ginebra’s departure also practically eliminated ‘The Spark’ from winning his first MVP title and put B-Meg’s James Yap in line to win his third. Yap scored all of his 16 points in the second half.
Blakely led the Llamados with 22 points and 10 rebounds, while Cedric Bozeman tossed in 27 to pace Ginebra, which got eliminated for the second straight conference by the Llamados.
Rain or Shine will go into the first title series in its PBA life a well-rested side, having the luxury of watching last night’s KO match in the luxury of their homes.
The Painters topped the eliminations with an 8-1 record and remained in No. 1 at the end of the semifinal round, interestingly enough, because of a masterful conquest of the Llamados Wednesday night.
“We’ve always found it hard matching up with them,” Cone said of the Painters, who will be relying heavily on import Jamelle Cornley and super rookie Paul Lee in the championship series.