Home 
Red Bull avoided a fourth straight defeat, while Barangay Ginebra failed to snatch what should have been a fourth straight win.
The Barakos lost an early 17-point lead but held off the Kings in the endgame to score an 86-82 in the PBA Fiesta Cup yesterday at the Araneta Coliseum.
Adam Parada tallied 20 points and 23 rebounds, his fourth 20-20 game in the conference, while rookie Jojo Duncil fired a career-high 18 points as the Barakos snatched their eighth win in 13 games to move up to solo second place in the standings.
“It feels good to break a losing streak,” Red Bull head coach Yeng Guiao told pba.ph.
“I guess we just wanted this game a lot more because the losing has been getting to us,” added Guiao, whose squad has not had such a losing skein since the 2006 Philippine Cup eliminations.
It was a huge outing for Duncil, who came into the game averaging just 5.7 points per outing.
Red Bull raced to a 33-16 lead but the Kings battled back in the second quarter and took a 37-36 lead.
The Barakos closed the half with four unanswered points to lead by four at the bend, 41-37.
Duncil then took charge in the third, scoring 13 points in the quarter to help Red Bull build another double digit spread, 72-58, going into the final period.
“Slowly, we're trying to get him into his confidence. He has the kind of character to shine and play for this team,” said Guiao of Duncil.
“Ang character niya is really terno sa Red Bull. He plays hard, walang ere, he's got skills, heart, exactly what we want.”
The Kings, who played without the conference's top local scorer Mark Caguioa, staged repeated rallies in the fourth but the best it could do was to move within 82-85 with only 4.8 seconds left.
Ex-Barako Junthy Valenzuela led the Kings' comeback bid by knocking in three triples in the final 2:09.
Alexander paced the Kings with 27 points and tied his own season-high 29 rebounds.
Alexander, however, was just five-for-15 from the free throw line and missed six freebies in the fourth that heavily contributed to the Kings' eighth loss in 12 games.
Ginebra also failed to avenge its previous 89-83 loss to the same Red Bull squad in their first meeting last March 30.
BOX SCORES:
RED BULL (86)- Parada 20, Duncil 18, Baguio 18, Alvarez 10, Adriano 5, Robinson 4, Pennisi 4, Najorda 2, Ybanez 2, Sharma 2, Cruz 1.
GINEBRA (82)- Alexander 27, Helterbrand 18, Valenzuela 15, Tubid 12, Artadi 4, Salvacion 4, Mamaril 2, Menk 0, Crisano 0.
QUARTERSCORES: 27-14, 41-37, 72-58, 86-82. /Correspondent Calvin D. Cordova
