To make a crucial basket, Japeth Aguilar jammed in a ball that's still playing around the rim, and the Barangay Ginebra Kings closed in on a Top Four finish in the PBA Governors Cup eliminations with a classic 105-101 overtime win over the Star Hotshots at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Sunday night.
The Kings struggled badly from the line but came through with an enough kick at the finish to beat out the Hotshots in a well-fought battle played before a roaring crowd of over 15,000.
Ginebra jacked up its stock atop the heap with a 6-1 win-loss card while Star dropped to 4-2 with a second straight loss.
"We struggled with our free throws and with our rebounding. We didn't play the game well and I felt we just stole it from them as they played well throughout," said Ginebra coach Tim Cone.
"That's a tough game. At the end of the game, our guys were exhausted in trying to run up and down against a quick team. They have a quick import and they're almost playing with five guards out there. They're a tough matchup for us," Cone also said.
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A big break went Ginebra's way when Hill picked up his sixth and last foul with the count tied at 101 with 2:37 left to play.
The Kings scored the last four points of the game through Justin Brownlee, Joe Devance and Aguilar, and thus won the grind-out game marked by 29 lead changes and 16 deadlocks.
Brownlee top scored with 33 points while Devance and Greg Slaughter added 17 points apiece as the Kings stayed undefeated in their last six outings.
Brownlee, Devance and Slaughter all finished with double-double numbers with each one collecting at least 10 rebounds each.
Aguilar had his near double-double game with 12 points and nine boards. His last bucket came in jamming the last-end of Devance's charities that's still around the rim, making it 105-101 with 5.3 ticks to go.
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Hill, Paul Lee, Mark Barroca, Aldrech Ramos, Rafi Reavis and Ian Sangalang led their tough stand anchored on a running attack.
They outscored Ginebra, 22-12, on fastbreaks.
Hill buried three charities with six-tenths of a second left, sending the game into overtime at 95-all.
It became a duel from the line in the crunch, and the Kings failed to close out the game in regulations in making just two of six foul shots in the last 22 seconds.
Scottie Thompson missed a pair while Brownlee and Devance split theirs.
