Barangay Ginebra San Miguel used a late third quarter spurt for the separation and showed nerves of steel in the closing stretch to essay an 87-77 rebound win over Magnolia in the Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup Sunday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Protecting a six-point lead, Maverick Ahanmisi struck the finishing blow with a cold-blooded three-pointer in the last 36.3 seconds of the game to kill any hopes of a Hotshots comeback and seal the Gin Kings' third win in four starts.
Ginebra picked its 100th win over Magnolia in their 35-season Manila Classico rivalry game.
But Gin Kings head coach Tim Cone was much more impressed with his team bouncing back from a blowout loss to Meralco before the long break.
"I'm gonna say I like what our guys did. We came from that tough loss against Meralco. We're kind of embarrassed out there," Cone said.
"They really showed that they care. They care about their fans. They care about their performance and they came in here and I thought they're really locked in. This is the way we expect to play and hope to play all the time."
Stanley Pringle led the Gin Kings with 17 points while Ahanmisi made 16 markers none bigger than his lone made three out of two attempts.
Jamie Malonzo had 11 points and nine rebounds and Christian Standhardinger dropped a double-double of 11 markers and 14 rebounds.
Japeth Aguilar poured 14 of his 16 points in the second half and added nine rebounds, three assists and a block for the Gin Kings, who hold a 100-104 win-loss head-to-head record overall over the Hotshots since 1988 but 24-13 under Cone.
Malonzo capped the Gin Kings' blistering 13-0 run to turn a 47-53 deficit into a 60-53 lead with 1:18 left in the third quarter with back-to-back baskets.
Nard Pinto gave Ginebra its biggest lead, 71-62, after hitting a long bomb in the last 8:47 of the ballgame.
Magnolia remained within striking distance late in the fourth with Paul Lee trimming the deficit to six, 75-81, with 57 seconds left.
But Ahanmisi answered with a dagger.
The Hotshots slid to a 1-1 win-loss card despite 17-point effort of Ian Sangalang and Jio Jalalon's 15 markers and 10 rebounds.
Lee finished with 12, Mark Barroca had 11 while Abu Tratter had 10 points and nine boards.
Box scores:
GINEBRA (87)– Pringle 17, M. Ahanmisi 16, J.Aguilar 16, Malonzo 11, Standhardinger 11, Onwubere 8, Tenorio 5, Pinto 3, David 0
MAGNOLIA (77) – Sangalang 17, Jalalon 15, Lee 12, Barroca 11, Tratter 10, Abueva 4, Mendoza 3, Corpuz 3, Laput 2, Escoto 0, Ahanmisi 0, Reavis 0, Eriobu 0
Quarters: 17-18, 37-40, 60-56, 87-77