Victory seemed to be in Barangay Ginebra’s hands when it built an 11-point lead against San Miguel Beer late in the third quarter of their Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup best-of-seven semifinals series decider.

Then the Kings let it slip from their grip in a frustrating final period meltdown that eventually sent them packing in a heartbreaking 93-100 Game 7 loss Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

“I feel terrible, but that’s the way it goes,” Ginebra coach Tim Cone said after his team missed a third straight finals appearance following back-to-back runner-up finishes in the Governors’ Cup and Commissioner’s Cup.

The loss came as a shock for a team that seemed in control of the match after erecting a 73-62 advantage over the Beermen with 1:36 left in the third quarter.

San Miguel, however, had a different plan in mind.

Veteran Chris Ross, big man June Mar Fajardo and Don Trollano fueled blistering 19-4 run capped by a Jericho Cruz breakaway layup to take an 81-77 advantage with 7:58 left in the fourth quarter.

Ginebra never recovered from there.

“We had a chance to put the game away early. In the third quarter, we could have stretched the lead. But we let down,” Cone lamented.

The 25-time champion mentor felt the end of the third was the beginning of the end for his squad.

“I don’t really have many thoughts at this point. We played a terrible fourth quarter. We played terrible down the stretch. They jumped into a zone. We didn’t handle it well,” Cone said.

“We really lost the game at the end of the third. I thought when we didn’t keep momentum, we gave them back momentum. Turned the ball over a couple of times,” he added.