WITH the trio of Christian Standhardinger, Japeth Aguilar and Scottie Thompson leading the way, Barangay Ginebra held off TNT, 87-83, and claimed its third straight win in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Philsports Arena in Pasig.

Standhardinger, Aguilar and Thompson combined for 57 points for the Gin Kings, who climbed to solosecond place with their sixth win against three losses.

Standhardinger came through with 20 points despite 8-of-21 shooting from the field, while adding 15 rebounds, and five assists in 42 minutes of action for coach Tim Cone.

Equally impressive were Aguilar, who added 20 points and 10 reboundsand Thompson, who contributed 17 points, 10 rebounds, six assists, five steals, two blocks for the Gin Kings.

Rookie Ralph Cu chipped in with 12 points and six rebounds.

RR Pogoy and Calvin Oftana led all scorers for the Tropang Giga, finishing with 19 points each for coach Chot Reyes.

With the loss, the Tropang Giga dropped to 4-4 win-loss record.

Pogoy went 8-of-19 shooting, six rebounds, four assists and two steals while Oftana added five rebounds.

Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser contributed 12 points and seven rebounds while Kelly Williams had 10 points and eight rebounds.

Veteran point guard Jayson Castro was held to only nine points, eight assists, and four rebounds.

“It was truly a team performance,” said coach Tim Cone in an interview posted on the PBA website.

“We felt like we’re down by 20 at halftime because we blew a 20-point lead. In reality it’s still a tie. So we still had a game to play and we just had to take it possession by possession in the second half. And I thought our guys did a really good job of doing that.”added Cone

The scores:

Ginebra (87) — Standhardinger 20, J.Aguilar 20, Thompson 17, Cu 12, Pinto 7, Ahanmisi 6, Onwubere 3, Pringle 2, David 0, Tenorio 0.
TNT (83) — Pogoy 19, Oftana 19, B.Ganuelas-Rosser 12, K.Williams 10, Castro 9, Reyes 5, Montalbo 5, Galinato 4, Aurin 0, Ponferrada 0, Heruela 0, Khobuntin 0.
Quarterscores: 30-13, 41-41, 63-59, 87-83.