MANILA, 10 April 2007 — Jong Uichico feels that steering Barangay Ginebra to victories here and there — even with his most reliable players failing to suit up one by one for one reason or another — is part of his everyday job.
It is his duty as a coach, no disputing that. But the way he talks afterward makes it look like winning with a shorthanded lineup is just so easy to do.
With another high-profile player — Eric Menk — forced to ride the bench because of an injury, Uichico steered his walking wounded Gin Kings to a 100-84 victory over fancied Red Bull Sunday night to grab a share of the PBA Fiesta Cup lead.
“It’s my job to make do with what (personnel) I have,” the soft-spoken Uichico, wearing a slight smile, said. “The players are just stepping up and are keeping on playing. I just asked them (before the game) to just keep doing the things they do — only better this time.”
Menk was the sixth star to “orphan” his team because of a bruised calf, joining National team appointees Jay-Jay Helterbrand and Mark Caguioa, the injured Rafi Reavis and Johnny Abarrientos and forward on-leave Rudy Hatfield.
Ginebra came out with all guns cocked and firing, establishing leads of as many as 24 points right in the first half before holding off the Barako in the stretch to improve to 6-2 with their second straight win.
Red Bull, which got it down to 78-81 just past the halfway mark of the fourth quarter, dropped into a tie with its conquerors after failing to avenge a first round loss. The defeat also snapped a three-game winning streak for the Barako. “I think things just fell into place for us (tonight), and Red Bull relaxed at the start,” Uichico said. “We just have to find ways to win, that’s the bottom line.
“And I think we just caught Red Bull on another off night.”
Red Bull’s both losses came at the hands of the Kings, who scored a 111-105 decision in the first round after prized import James Penny was held to just 18 points and 10 rebounds.
The story for Penny was no different, as he finished with just 22 points and 12 boards to lose in his personal duel with Rod Nealy, the left-handed Ginebra import who tossed in 38 points, grabbed 16 rebounds and had seven assists.
“He (Nealy) is just plugging a lot of the holes for us,” Uichico said. “He’s doing his job well and I think the way he has been performing of late makes him one of the best imports in the tournament.”
Nealy, a left-hander, scored 21 of his total in the first two periods when the Kings established their will, while Ronald Tubid had 12 of his 19 aside from playing great defense on Penny the whole time.
The first half ended with the Kings ahead, 58-41, before the Barako made one frenzied effort to come back as Red Bull pruned down the deficit to 71-75 entering the final quarter at the Araneta Coliseum.
Penny knocked in a short jumper at the 5:21 mark of the fourth to pull the Barako within 81-78, but Sunday Salvacion joined the scoring fray by shooting the chunk of his 11 fourth quarter points from there to aid the comfortable win.
Meanwhile, Purefoods encountered token resistance from Welcoat and cruised to a 94-82 victory over the depleted Dragons in the first game.
The Tender Juicy Giants earned a break after just three minutes when Welcoat import Charles Clark limped out of the floor because of a stress fracture in his right big toe. And the Dragons practically fell with him as they could not match the firepower of Purefoods. “It’s just unfortunate for Welcoat,” Purefoods coach Ryan Gregorio said later, referring to the injury to the Welcoat import. “But we’ll take the win.
Second Welcoat import Alex Compton churned out his finest offensive game, topscoring with 24 points with Jireh Ibanez adding 16. But their efforts were simply not enough as the Dragons fell behind by wide deficits early and never recovered.
Roger Yap had 10 of his 14 points in the first quarter to touch off the Purefoods breakaway as the Giants now take some form of momentum when they fly to Dubai next week when they clash with the Kings.
Purefoods, which finished second to Red Bull here last year, led by 26 points twice, the last at 69-43 on a jumper by veteran forward Jun Limpot with 3:50 left in the third period. The Giants are now at 3-5, while Welcoat dropped to 2-5.
