MANILA, 5 May 2007 — Derrick Pumaren just wanted his Talk ‘N Text side to make a statement that it can beat Red Bull.
The Phone Pals played so well that the statement reverberated for the whole PBA Fiesta Cup to hear.
Talk ‘N Text has put up a string that made it one of the hottest teams in the tournament, winning for the fourth straight time last night, an easy 127-100 decision of defending champion Barako at the Araneta Coliseum.
Yancy de Ocampo dropped 25 points and plucked down 22 rebounds, while JJ Sullinger was unstoppable from inside and out and finished with 35 as the Phone Pals, after a rocky start, improved to 7-5.
Red Bull, which will lose Enrico Villanueva next week to the national team, dropped a second straight game for the first time in the tourney and slid to third spot with its fourth loss in 12 matches.
And not only that, the Barako stand to lose swingman Junethy Valenzuela, who was thrown out of the court after incurring a flagrant foul 2 on Mac Cardona early in the second quarter that almost cleared both benches.
Valenzuela slapped Cardona at the back of the head at least twice, reacting to a hard foul given by the Talk ‘N Text guard who tried to prevent a fastbreak play with the score pegged at 32-25 in favor of the Phone Pals, 9:21 left.
What made matters worse was that Valenzuela lunged at Cardona with a punch when both were being pacified. Stiff monetary penalties are expected and a long suspension could also be slapped on the Red Bull guard.
“I just told the boys that this was a statement game for us, that we can beat Red Bull,” Pumaren later said. “We haven’t had any luck against them in the past, our only win, if memory serves, came during a battle for third, which was not really much.”
The Phone Pals jumped out of the gates hard and kept the Barako at bay, building double-digit leads early which frustrated Red Bull no end. De Ocampo tied his career-high in rebounds and last night’s game was the third time in his career that he completed a 20-20 game even as Cardona never lost focus after the scuffle and finished with 27 markers.
Sullinger, meanwhile, was doing his damage while also entertaining the crowd, nailing several gravity-defying dunks along the way to also finish with 12 rebounds, four assists, a steal and three blocks.
“We’ve really done nothing extra-ordinary (the past few games) other than step on the floor with a high energy level,” Pumaren added. “We just want to stay in the upper half (of the standings) and maybe give ourselves a chance to make the semifinals outright.”
James Penny led Red Bull with 27 points, but got little help from his local crew that struggled all night with Larry Fonacier the next best scorer with 14 and Leo Najorda coming off the bench to chip in with 12.
Earlier, Coca-Cola got more than what it bargained for against a Purefoods side that played without an import, scoring an 80-77 victory only in the final minutes to snap a two-game skid.
Jeff Varem scored 26 points and grabbed a season-high 24 rebounds, frolicking with Marquin Chandler serving out a one-game suspension and leading the Tigers to their fifth win in 12 games.
It was also the first victory for Varem in three games in the PBA since he took over Anthony Johnson. And it almost did not come with the Tender Juicy Giants refusing to crack and dragging the Tigers to a furious endgame battle. James Yap and Peter June Simon carried the fight for Purefoods, shooting 22 and 20, respectively.
And the Giants had a chance to send the game into extra time or maybe even win it outright before Yap lost his footing in the face of a Coca-Cola quadruple team heading into the final 2.5 seconds which sealed the Giants’ fate.
Purefoods dropped to 4-8 and will have to put together a long winning streak to make the quarterfinal outright.
Chandler was also fined P20,000, part of the penalties he drew for coming into physical contact with a game official last April 22 in a winning game against Red Bull.
