MANILA, 7 November 2004 — Ren-Ren Ritualo showed the way and the rest of FedEx followed suit as the Express dealt San Miguel Beer a 109-103 on Friday in the Gran Matador-PBA Philippine Cup at the PhilSports Arena.
Ritualo, whom coach Joe Lipa described as the only player who shoots jumpers like making a lay-up, scored all but five of his game-high 29 points in the first half as the Express improved to 4-3. San Miguel slipped to 4-4.
FedEx hardly needed Ritualo’s scoring in the second half as Ranidel de Ocampo, Egay Billones and Wynne Arboleda took turns in delivering the goods to bring the team back from a 54-63 deficit en route to the win.
Comebacking Danny Seigle scored on a two-handed dunk as SMB closed in at 100-103, still 24 ticks left. But Billones strung up three straight charities, the first a trickler that he egged on with a backward somersault, eliciting appreciative laughter and applause from the fans. The Express salvaged the game although they were terribly beaten by the Beermen in the battle off the boards, 47-63.
Nic Belasco stepped up with Dorian Pena rooted on the bench due to sore back, coming away with a personal career-high 23 rebounds that went with 23 points and one assist.
Seigle finally played his first game since the Fiesta Conference quarterfinals, making nine points and four rebounds in 18 minutes of action. It’s only Seigle’s 16th game in the last two years. Danny Ildefonso played limited minutes because of fouls but made an impact at endgame, fuelling a rally by the Beermen.
In the second game, Purefoods Hotdogs, featuring one new acquisition in Tonyboy Espinosa, faced disaster at endgame but survived, nipping the Alaska Aces, 93-91. June Peter Simon came off the bench to deliver four crucial points in the last 18 seconds as the Hotdogs overcame the Aces’ endgame charge.
Espinosa sat out the last 18 seconds in place of Simon but came up with a decent game to help the Hotdogs bounce back from a 98-102 defeat at the hands of the Express Oct. 28.
The former La Salle standout, who played a total of 80 games in three seasons with Mobiline from 1997-99, was given a brief contract at Purefoods with Noy Castillo, Gilbert Demape and Mike Hrabak sidelined by different injuries. He came off a stint with the touring San Miguel All-Stars. Curiously, Purefoods coach Ryan Gregorio kept Alvin Patrimonio in the freezer in the game, ending the four-time MVP’s record streak of games played at 596.
Meanwhile, Marlou Aquino has regressed from being a highly-prized player to a high-priced ‘contented cow’, to the eyes of many, taking with him Sta. Lucia Realty into a seemingly endless freefall in the Gran Matador-PBA Philippine Cup.
Aquino’s poor and uninspired performance of late has spurred persistent talks of impending trades regarding the 6-foot-9 center, supposedly one of the three cornerstones of the Sta. Lucia team, the other two being Dennis Espino and Kenneth Duremdes.
