With the emergence of freshman star Terrence Romeo, people were rambling about a "passing of the torch" from Mark Caguioa.
Caguioa, though, was not willing to give it up easily.
On that fateful night, Caguioa proved all doubters wrong as he led Barangay Ginebra to a 109-104 victory over the GlobalPort Batang Pier. "The Spark" himself exploded for 29 points, with 14 coming from the last three minutes of the game.
Ginebra looked poised to notch its third win easily, when all of a sudden Romeo and Jay Washington sparked a 19-10 run in the third frame. Luckily, Ginebra snapped back to reality, and Emman Monfort and college teammate Greg Slaughter poured 13 points on a 17-9 swing to douse cold water on the Batang Pier run.
However, GlobalPort was quickly reignited in the final canto, partly due to the complacent defense of Ginebra. The team formerly known as the "Powerade Tigers" bombarded the latter team with triples, while Romeo and FEU backcourt partner RR Garcia drove ferociously to the basket. A 25-8 run capped by a fast break layup by Sol Mercado tied the game at 91 apiece.
A daring drive by Romeo put the Batang Pier at the driver seat, 93-91, but Caguioa answered back with a three. The eventual absence of the UAAP MVP led to the collapse of GlobalPort's offense. Caguioa then scored 13 more points to finally dispatch the Batang Pier squad.
The fieldgoal shooting story was not much of a difference (48.1 for Ginebra against 44 for GlobalPort). What made the difference was the free-throw shooting, with Ginebra going 24-of-36 against 15-of-24 for GlobalPort. GlobalPort led in turnover points 23-11. (GS)
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