JEDDAH, 7 May 2004 — Purefoods Hotdogs lived on even as import Tyrone Washington rotted on the bench on fouls in the second half, avoiding what could have been another exercise in futility with a 107-91 rout of the Shell Turbochargers in the PBA Gran Fiesta Conference at the Araneta Coliseum on Wednesday night.
Alvin Patrimonio, Kerby Raymundo, Richard Yee and Paul Artadi joined forces to do the job as the Hotdogs mirrored the feat done by the Beermen in their game Saturday, winning decisively with an all-Filipino lineup in the final half.
The victory gave the Hotdogs a 4-win, 10-loss slate but didn’t lift them out of the cellar. The win also arrested the Hotdogs’ six-game losing skid, already a record in longest losing streak in the PBA transition journey.
Gilbert Demape sank a running jumper from the right baseline, with a second left on the clock, to push the Purefoods Tender Juicy Hotdogs to a 49-41 halftime lead.
The Hotdogs started hot, posting an 11-point bubble, 22-11, early in the first period en route to a 25-17 first quarter lead.
The Turbochargers, starring Jameel Watkins came charging back in the second period. The hulking Shell import bulldozed his way to back-to-back baskets, with three minutes to go in the second period, as the Turbochargers came within two points of Purefoods lead, 35-37.
But the Hotdogs finished with their own 12-6 blast to post the 49-41 halftime lead.
Patrimonio buried back-to-back triples coming off the bench to cap a searing Purefoods run in the third quarter that gave the team an 85-66 buffer going into the final canto.
Washington checked back a minute into the fourth quarter but returned to the bench quickly after being called a fifth foul. But the Hotdogs kept their composure and their fighting spirit, coming up with a strong finishing kick to complete the crucial win that kept the team in contention for middle seedings in the wild card phase of the tourney.
Improving their win-loss record to 4-10, the Hotdogs can still hope for at least an eighth place finish and an outright knockout game in the wild card phase. Relegation to ninth or 10th positions will mean “twice-to-win disadvantage.”
Meanwhile, the Sta. Lucia Realtors relied on the late game heroics of their team captain Dennis Espino, who scored his team’s marginal points, to eke out a 95-93 overtime decision over a tired but fighting Alaska Aces in the first game.
“Our players are finally starting to believe in themselves,” said Espino. “While the other teams have big imports, we are relying on our local big men. Tonight they came through. Dennis (Espino) and even Marlou (Aquino) were the big difference for us tonight.”
In the end it was simply guts and determination which decided the outcome of the game. Espino converted two free throws to push the Realtors to a 93-90 lead with 10 seconds to go in overtime. Mike Cortez tied the score at 93-all on a long triple. But Espino himself scored the winning basket on a follow-up of a miss by Aquino.
Alaska’s tenacious defense held the Realtors to a low 22 percent shooting from the field in the first half en route to posting a rousing 39-26 lead at halftime.
“It was a pity,” added Cone. “That’s one thing we have to learn — how to close out our opponents. It was up to us to win it. But we didn’t close them out in the third.”
Sta. Lucia’s two-three zone blanked the Aces for three minutes early in the third period. The Realtors made an 11-0 run to cut the Alaska lead to 47-43 after falling behind by 15, 47-32.
