The Bulls attacked early and made clutch plays down the stretch to silence the crowd on their way to an 83-79 win over Ginebra in the San Mig Coffee 2005-06 PBA Fiesta Conference semifinals.

Celino Cruz buried a three-pointer to give the Bulls the lead for good, 76-75, 1:22 to go. The basket came on the heels of Chris Porter’s slam that gave the Kings the lead for the first time in the knockout match.

"When I called a timeout I told them to take the shot basta libre and that’s exactly what Celino did," said coach Yeng Guiao, who will make his seventh championship appearance and fourth with the Bulls.

James Penny, not much of a factor offensively because of foul trouble, burried the dagger on their next possession with his own howitzer for a 79-75 lead, 47.7 seconds to go.

After trading unproductive plays, Mark Caguioa made a triple and fished a foul from Lordy Tugade to get a chance to pull the Kings within one, 19 seconds left.

But Caguioa missed and Penny split his charities at the other end to make it a three-point game.

Out of timeout, Jayjay Helterbrand took matters into his own hand and nearly played the hero’s role for the Kings.

He sank the front end of his charities, intentionally missed the second and grabbed the offensive rebound for a chance to tie or even steal the win.

But he hurried an open jumper and Cruz canned two free throws for the final count.

The Bulls last entered the championship round in the transition conference last year, losing to the Kings in four games.

A quick start in the third gave the Bulls a 49-38 lead, but the Kings unloaded seven straight points to set up a riveting endgame.

The Bulls went on a rampage early, hitting three triples to take a 21-14 lead in the opening frame.

Topex Robinson, not exactly known for his outside shooting, made 2-of-2 from beyond the arc on that stretch.