Air21 dazzles to get past Powerade

Air21, despite its moribund record, could have beaten any team last night.
It was just too bad for Powerade that it was on the other end when the Express played the best game in the history of their franchise.
Zach Graham got ample support from his local crew and the result was an eye-popping 128-121 conquest of Powerade as the out-of-it-all Express stalled the Tigers’ playoff march in the PBA Governors’ Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.
Graham tossed in 51 points – the most by any import in close to four years – as the Express dropped the most number of points in franchise history while also posting the highest scoring game in the tournament.
And it came from a squad that came into the contest with a 1-5 record and has almost turned into laughing stock of the conference after several blowout losses.
Air21 faced Powerade as the team with the lowest point total on average, just slightly over 88 points and was given little chance especially if the Express’ last loss against Meralco was taken into account.
But Air21 broke out of the gates hard and established commanding leads early before fending off the Tigers in a furious endgame to pound out the win and gain some respect on what has been a very lousy tournament.
Now, the Express are a full game ahead of Alaska in ninth place in the standings after the Aces bungled a commanding lead of their own in the first game to go down in flames against Barangay Ginebra, 90-81.
“I think it’s more of a collective effort. Everyone responded well to the speech I gave before the game,” winning coach Franz Pumaren said. “The speed affected them and they played their best game tonight.” Pumaren asked his players to play as if they belonged in the league, pointing out that they are part of the chosen few from among more than 80 million Filipinos blessed with the chance to be in Asia’s first play-for-pay league.
Ren-Ren Ritualo, the former La Salle star in the UAAP who has undoubtedly seen better years in the PBA, scored 22 points, the most in more than three seasons, in a splendid backup job to Graham.
Graham scored 16 points in the second period when the Express peeled away from the clutches of the Tigers as Air21 raced to leads of as many as 25.
It was also Graham who had the hot hand in the fourth, tossing in 17 of his total, when Powerade doggedly tried to come back and even came to within five points with under a minute remaining.
“He is just such a terrific import,” Pumaren said of Graham. “He can do anything. He gave us everything tonight.” Omar Sneed paced the Tigers with 40 points, and Gary David, the league’s leading local scorer this year, had 28.
But the Tigers still fell as they couldn’t climb out of the deep hole they were in. Powerade is now at 4-3, tied with the Gin Kings, and would need to win at least one of its remaining two games to have a solid shot at advancing.
Ginebra came roaring back from as many as 17 points down in the second quarter with a near-flawless second half, getting the goods from Mark Caguioa, import Cedric Bozeman and three bench players.
Caguioa finished with 22 points, all but seven of them coming in the final two periods, and Enrico Villanueva, Nino Canaleta and Willy Wilson combined for 25 second half points to lift the Kings.
The loss was the sixth straight in a 1-7 card for the Aces, who showed little fight in the final two periods to highlight what has so far been a very disappointing conference.