MANILA, 8 March 2004 — Asi Taulava came up with another round of impressive numbers last night as the Talk ‘N Text Phone Pals zoomed to the solo lead with three straight wins by leaving FedEx in a pile of mess, 116-104, in the Gran Matador PBA Fiesta Conference at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig.
Taulava banged his way to 26 points, 15 rebounds and two assists while import Randy Holcomb and Bong Ravena joined hands in making sure the Express would not have the chance to put up a semblance of a fight in the payoff period.
From an 87-80 lead at the end of the third quarter, Ravena caught fire from afar while Holcomb toyed with the defenses put up by John Ferriols and import Alvin Jefferson to shove the Phone Pals out of trouble five minutes to go.
After Ravena and Holcomb softened up the Express, Taulava administered the coup d grace with a post-up play and a mouth-watering fadeaway jumper off Jefferson.
Talk ‘N’ Text went on a 16-3 run to take a 112-94 edge with 4:36 to play. The last time FedEx got a taste of the lead came after a triple by rookie Ranidel de Ocampo that gave the Express a 74-73 edge. Ranidel, whose elder brother Yancy plays for Talk ‘n Text, had also scored on a triple before that in a show of hitting prowess from downtown. The loss was the second straight for FedEx, which drew a better showing from the rim-rattling Jefferson.
In the second game, Art Long kept in check the response everybody expected of him and instead mowed down the low blocks as San Miguel tripped Ginebra, 95-82.
Already up by eight, the Beermen, with Long at the helm, went on a 14-2 run, including 12 straight points, to take a 90-70 lead in the last 3:57, preventing Ginebra from matching last year’s 3-0 start. Long had 21 points and 26 rebounds. The game marked the return of Danny Seigle, who played briefly in the second period. Checking in with a minute left in the first quarter, Seigle played six minutes and was held scoreless for the first time in his career after sitting out for a year and a half due to an Achilles’ injury and, recently, a hamstring pull.
Earlier, Shell turned to its local heroes to nip Purefoods, 94-91 at the Lagao gymnasium in General Santos City. The Turbo Chargers, drawing great efforts from Chris Calaguio, Tony dela Cruz and Rensy Bajar, also survived an injury to Marek Ondera in the third period to score their first win this season in the tournament’s first out-of-town game, witnessed by a sellout crowd of 8,016 fans.
Alvin Patrimonio, whose late father is from this city, scored a second straight career milestone with his 2000th assist, which he notched on a feed to new import Reggie Butler at the 7:30 mark of the third. The Turbo Chargers survived free throw misses down the stretch, something that Purefoods failed to capitalize as the Hotdogs also struggled from the stripe in the stretch.
Taking over when Ondera twisted his ankle at the 8:08 mark of the third, Calaguio and Dela Cruz led the Turbo Chargers to a 79-73 lead, 10:35 to play in the game. Dela Cruz stretched it by scoring four straight points while Bajar added a triple for an 88-77 lead 6:45 remaining. Except for scary moments from the free throw line in the dying seconds, that was all it took for Shell to score its first win in three games, catching up with Purefoods, which lost its last two matches for a 1-2 record.
