MANILA, 15 March 2007 — San Miguel has had enough of Vidal Massiah.

Question is, at the rate the Beermen have played their last two games and with the shortage in manpower very obvious, it would take a truly great import to take his place.

Air21 sealed its best-ever start in the league last night, bringing down the Beermen without much effort, 88-78, that gave the Express a share of the early elimination round lead in the PBA Fiesta Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.

San Miguel coach Biboy Ravanes couldn’t wait to get something out of his import that he benched Massiah in the final two quarters. Massiah will end his brief PBA stint scoreless in his final game.

Air21 was so in command that the Express ended the third period leading by 25 points before cruising to their second win in as many games, the finest jump the team has had out of the gates in five years in the league.

“Not really, but it was a factor,” Air21 coach Bo Perasol anwered when asked if San Miguel being depleted took some of the luster away from the win. “It’s a small token (franchise’s best ever start), but in five years, we’ve never really able to accomplish this.”

Gary David topscored for the Express with 22 points, rookie Arwind Santos tossed in 18 and grabbed 10 boards as Air21 climbed into a momentary tie for the lead with Red Bull and Alaska at 2-0.

The Barako and the Aces then grapple for the lead in a road game scheduled at the Olivarez gym in Paranaque. Game time is 7 p.m. with both teams shooting for 3-0 cards.

There was no one who truly rose as a go-to-guy for the Beermen, who got buried right in the second quarter after scoring just 14 points. San Miguel bowed out of the game completely in the third after shooting just 13 points and surrendering 29 for that 50-75 deficit.

Paul McMillan, a former Loyola at Illinois standout, will be arriving within the next couple of days to take Massiah’s place in the team. He will dress for the match against Coca-Cola Tigers in Lanao Del Norte on Saturday.

San Miguel was without national team draftees Dondon Hontiveros and Danny Seigle and the injured Lordy Tugade and Danny Ildefonso. Talk ‘N Text played in a way that showed everyone of life after losing three key figures, as the Phone Pals broke away in the fourth period to post a 102-87 decision of Coca-Cola in the first game.

Import JJ Sullinger played above-the-rim and dominated in the second half, shooting 19 of his 35 in the third period before Egay Billones scorched the Tigers with all of his 12 points in the fourth.

The win was the first in two games for the Phone Pals, who will be without Asi Taulava, Jimmy Alapag and Ren-Ren Ritualo for the tournament because of national cause.

Coke, meanwhile, missed wresting the lead for its lonesome after losing for the first time in three games, leaving the winner of the Alaska vs. Red Bull collision at 7 tonight at the Olivarez gym in Paranaque with the early pace.

The defending champion Barako and the Aces won their first two games and coach Tim Cone of Alaska believes that his game tonight would be his team’s first acid test.

“He is a good pick,” coach Derrick Pumaren said of 5-foot-9 Billones, who got another call to play in the pros as a sub for Alapag. “I know what he can do (for us), having coached him before (at Air21).”

Sullinger, on the other hand, played like a super import right in only his second game, carrying the Phone Pals when they were under seige the most.

The 6-foot-5 former Alley Cats standout in the CBA who was the only rookie in the CBA All-Star Game last month, missed a triple double by just three assists. He also had 12 rebounds in 42 minutes.

And the scary thing about it is that Pumaren is believes that Sullinger has yet to play his full potential.

“I think he can do more, because I’ve seen what he can do in practice.”

Anthony Johnson, the high-flying Coca-Cola import, led the Tigers with 39 markers and 14 rebounds, playing impressively yet again but not enough to pull the team out of the woods.

Coca-Cola’s local crew, save for a very few, failed to contribute as expected as only four players, counting Johnson’s contribution, were responsible for all but six points of the team’s total output.

“The key also is that we took better shots tonight,” Pumaren added. “Unlike (in the loss) against Alaska where we relied too much on our outside game and paid the price.”

Don Allado also returned from a long layoff because of a knee injury, shooting 10 points and grabbing six rebounds off the bench.

John Arigo scattered 17 points to back up Johnson and Ali Peek 14. William Antonio tossed in 11 for Coca-Cola.