(UPDATED) Japeth Aguilar poured in 27 points to help Barangay Ginebra overcome a slow start against NLEX in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Angeles University Foundation Sports Arena in Angeles City, Pampanga Saturday night.

The Gin Kings carved out a 105-96 win over the Road Warriors to beef up their bid for a top 2 finish in the eliminations.

It wasn’t easy for the Gin Kings as the Road Warriors sent them a hail of threes in the opening quarter for a 30-19 lead.

Aguilar had to join forces with Scottie Thompson, aljon Mariano and LA Tenorio to close out NLEX at endgame to overcome the Road Warriors' output of 18 three-pointers.

Aguilar shot 10-out-of-18 from the field aside from grabbing 9 rebounds. Tenorio added 17 markers while Thompson, Greg Slaughter, and Kevin Ferrer contributed 14 each.

Ginebra now has 6 wins against 3 losses, formalizing its entry to the playoffs while snapping NLEX's 2-game streak. The Road Warriors dropped to 4-6.

Poy Erram topscored NLEX with 16 markers.

The scores:

Ginebra 105 - Aguilar 27, Tenorio 17, Thompson 14, Ferrer 14, Slaughter 14, Chan 7, Dela Cruz 7, Mariano 4, Mercado 1, Caperal 0.

NLEX 96 - Erram 16, Quinahan 15, Tiongson 12, Galanza 12, Paniamogan 8, Ighalo 8, Tallo 8, Magat 6, Lao 5, Soyud 3, Taulava 3, Baguio 0.

Quarters: 30-19, 51-46, 72-74, 96-105.

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