Jayjay Helterbrand of Barangay Ginebra (right) soars to block a shot by Coca-Cola's Chris Ross, as Kings import Awvee Storey (left) looks on in Sunday's PBA Fiesta Cup action. The Kings won, 98-91. (PBA Media Bureau)

Games Wednesday (Araneta Coliseum)
5 p.m. — Alaska vs Talk ’N Text
7:30 p.m. — Derby Ace vs Sta. Lucia

The underdog Coca-Cola Tigers finally met their match last Sunday when they fell to the popular Barangay Ginebra Kings, ending their three-game winning streak.

But coach Bo Perasol said he saw something positive in their 98-91 defeat.

With the way his players battled toe-to-toe against the league’s most popular squad, Perasol said he was confident they can bounce back and start another run – perhaps much longer than the first one where they won three games in a row, including a very satisfying 108-98 win over defending champion San Miguel Beer.

“We were actually in the thick of the fight, and players stepped up in the fourth. But we just came short,” Perasol said a day after their game with Ginebra.

He said that the mistake was that they tried to play Ginbera’s game instead of their own.

“They were running, and we matched up to that, but that’s not our style,” he said.

“There were times that we’re not playing the kind of phase that we want to play. In short, we played Ginebra’s style of run-and-gun.”

That proved to be costly as shown by their poor field percentage. They made just 31-of-91 or 34.1 percent, while their opponent made 36-of-82 or 43.9 percent. Ginebra also controlled the boards, 63-52.

Perasol saw lessons from the loss.

“I told my players after the game that we have to make sure we don’t carry over what happened in this game to our next games.”