MANILA, 8 January 2007 — Air21 continued to run foes to the ground, and Alfrancis Chua, the Sta. Lucia coach who crushed Coca-Cola earlier in the night, was the one who felt it all.
The Express got their running game humming on all cylinders in the second half last night, with Alaska the latest to fall, 112-106, as they stayed on course towards forging a playoff with the Realtors for the last quarterfinal slot in the PBA Philippine Cup.
Egay Billones, a long-forgotten guard in the Air21 roster, was the one who energized the Express, shooting all of his 16 points in the final two periods to keep the team unbeaten in two games in the wildcard phase.
It was a win that came after Chua’s Realtors annihilated Coca-Cola, 122-75, as Sta. Lucia failed to get itself off the hook and would likely clash with the Express again in a KO game to be scheduled Friday.
As things stand, Air21 clashes with the Tigers on Wednesday, with a win giving the Express a shot at the last quarterfinal berth with the Realtors, who can either win or lose against the Aces on the same day.
Should the Tigers upset the Express on Wednesday, then Sta. Lucia would advance opposite a well-rested Red Bull side in a best-of-five series. Talk ‘N Text and defending champion Purefoods are the teams in the other quarterfinal bracket. “We weren’t expecting to get a free ride to begin with,” Chua told Arab News. “It just goes on for us. We will prepare hard for them (Express) because I feel that we will be going into a playoff considering how Coca-Cola lost (to us) tonight.”
Air21 has a great success rate against the Realtors, whom they have beaten in all three meetings in this tournament, including a 121-99 demolition job at the start of the wildcard on Friday last week.
“For us, winning tonight was not important in the sense that we could get into the quarterfinals outright,” Chua explained. “What was important to us was that we snapped out (of a losing run) and that we found ways to win again. “Because, as I said, this win could serve us well if we will go into a playoff (with Air21).”
Billones, a 5-foot-9 veteran of three forgettable years who was picked up in the free agent market, shot three triples in the third period to move the Express within striking distance. He was also in the forefront of a telling 11-0 run in the middle of the fourth period that erased a 97-98 deficit for a 108-98 lead heading into the final four minutes.
“I have to give it to Egay (Billones). I don’t know where he got his confidence,” Air21 coach Bo Perasol said. “Using him was not planned. It was a spur-of-the-moment thing for me.” Confident Billones was, as he finished two fastbreak plays during that run with jumpers off the glass as the Aces wilted with errors coming one after the other and baskets seemingly impossible to buy.
Air21 trailed by as many as 11 points in two instances in the first half, before its vaunted running game clicked as the Express scooted away. Kelly Williams, meanwhile, led the Realtors with 22 points and nine rebounds despite playing with a hurting back. And Dennis Espino, the team’s long-time skipper, decided to play against doctor’s orders to provide the leadership for Sta. Lucia, who won for just the first time in its last five games and in convincing fashion at that.
The 47-point margin of victory was the largest in years in the league, and it was the fifth biggest of all time. The defunct U-Tex Wranglers’ 154-99 destruction of Great Taste in 1980 still stands to be the biggest.
The Tigers, in formally bowing out of contention, suffered a double blackeye - literally - with Ali Peek and rookie Joseph Yeo taken off the court with eyebrows bloodied from unintentional contacts in the third quarter and the Realtors way, way ahead, 88-48.
John Arigo led the way for Coca-Cola with 22 points, with Dennis Miranda, the hero in a 99-98 overtime victory over Alaska, chipping in 15 markers. Paolo Mendoza shot 17, Cesar Catli contributed 11 like Ricky Calimag and all but Mark Isip, also hobbled by an injury, of the entire bench utilized by Chua contributed offensively.
