MANILA, 14 March 2005 — Gary David, playing for the first time with his new team, knocked in a decisive three-pointer with 32 seconds left as the Express slipped past the Red Bull Barako, 109-104, Sunday night in the 2005 Gran Matador Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Fiesta Conference at the Cuneta Astrodome.

Given an abundant playing time and gaining confidence, David kicked off his stint as an Express on a blazing note and punctuated it by a shot that mattered most in the stretch.

David was shipped by the Coca-Cola Tigers to the Express in exchange for playmaker Dale Singson during the off-season, but it was only on Thursday that the three-way trade, that included San Miguel Beer, was completed.

Isolated at the left wing and with FedEx holding on to a razor-thin 104-103 advantage, David launched without hesitation the three-point attempt, pushing FedEx at 107-103 before the Barakos struggled with desperate and reckless counter-moves in their last two possessions.

“It was only my first game but I’m already comfortable playing for FedEx,” said David, a Dinalupihan, Bataan native who scored 14 of his 18 points in the second half.

Shell also barged into the win-column in the night as the Turbochargers overpowered the Purefoods Hotdogs, 80-68, in the second game.

The Barako ran into a maze of errors in the closing minute and missed six of their last seven shots in the last 48 seconds.

“Had David played in the first game, we could have won over Purefoods,” said newly hired FedEx coach Bong Ramos after securing his first victory as a PBA head coach.

David was really a big help for the team, especially during the crucial moments when Red Bull was preparing for another rally,” Ramos said.

The only time Red Bull came ominously close to equalizing the game was when Topex Robinson let loose his own three-pointer from the right flank. But his shot that was made possible after Enrico Villanueva split his free throws rattled out, and FedEx import Anthony Miller got fouled.

Miller sank both charities to seal the game with eight seconds remaining, the victory denying the Barakos of a share of the lead now occupied by San Miguel.

Red Bull dropped to a 1-1 slate.

David ended up with 18 points on top of five rebounds and four assists, while Ren-Ren Ritualo topscored with 25 points for FedEx, which lost to Purefoods (90-92) in its opener after leading by as much as 19 points.

The scores:

FEDEX 109 — Ritualo 25, Miller 24, David 18, Billones 16, De Ocampo 10, Gonzales 7, Pingris 4, Arboleda 4, Ferriols 1.

RED BULL 104 — Johnson 25, Ejercito 17, Meneses 17, Asaytono 13, Robinson 10, Villanueva 7, Tugade 6, Valenzuela 4, Ybanez 3, Baguio 2, Bernardo 0, Torion 0.

Quarterscores: 32-26, 52-47, 74-78, 109-104.