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The Barangay Ginebra Kings put one foot in the door of another championship after they beat the San Miguel Beermen, 106-98, in Game 5 of the best-of-seven Finals of the 2009 Motolite PBA Fiesta Conference last night at the Araneta Coliseum.
The Kings leaned on the inspired efforts Eric Menk and and import David Noel and took advantage of the foul-plagued San Miguel import Gabe Freeman to hack out the hard-fought victory and take a 3-2 lead in the series.
Noel wound up with 29 points and 11 rebounds while Freeman, the conference?s best import awardee, finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds.
Ginebra also got 18 points from Menk and 14 points from Chico Lanete, to offset the nine-point performance of newly-crowned MVP Jayjay Helterbrand, who was also hampered by an injured hamstring.
San Miguel was led by the 23 points of point guard Mike Cortez.
Ginebra tried to break the game wide open early in the second half as they led by as many as 18 points, 60-42.
History is now in favor of the Kings as 19 of the last 28 teams that have taken a 3-2 lead have gone on to win the title.
