MANILA — Do you remember the Sta. Lucia team of yesteryears? The one associated with failures and countless collapses? Well, that could be ancient history now.
The Realtors are a different breed nowadays. Their defense has been exceptionally good, their offense remarkably potent, and - most surprisingly - they no longer fold big time in the stretch.
Sta. Lucia Realty got a huge test of nerves against Alaska Wednesday night, and hurdled it with aplomb in a 101-96 win for its fourth straight victory in the Smart-PBA Philipppine Cup at the Cuneta Astrodome.
What looked like a cruise for the Realtors after they claimed a 16-point lead at one point in the third quarter turned into a cliffhanger late in the fourth quarter when the Aces came to within 99-96 with eight seconds left.
But sorry guys, these Realtors of today are better. Much better.
Instead of being pressured, the Realtors were the ones who put the pressure on the Aces after Dennis Miranda put Sta. Lucia at 100-96 on a split. They forced Jeffrey Cariaso to lose the ball in the final play, sealing the win.
It was the eighth win against six losses for the team that was the laughing stock of many seasons ago, moving them into a tie with the Aces and the Talk ‘N Text Phone Pals, who earlier survived a ferocious rally by Air21 to score a 127-115 triumph.
“We simply held our ground,” said Sta. Lucia coach Boyet Fernandez. “These kinds of games make us tougher. And I think we will need that kind of character as the tournament goes on.” Indeed, the Realtors now have a crack at clinching one of two outright semifinal berths. Purefoods leads the way in that race with an 11-3 record, and Red Bull benefited much from the Alaska loss as it found itself in solo second with an 8-5 slate.
But of course, no coach in his right mind would think ahead this early.
“It’s still a long way,” said Fernandez. “What we need here is hard work. And the boys showed that tonight.” It was exactly 15 days ago when Sta. Lucia and Alaska met for the first time in the season-opening conference. And the Realtors won that one, 94-88 after forcing Alaska to commit 27 turnovers which they translated to 29 points.
This time, it was no different as Alaska even got worse, having 31 errors.
The same thing hit the Phone Pals in the opener. They controlled the game by erecting a 24-point bulge, but saw that advantage nearly wiped out when the Express came to within 96-93 after a 13-2 run opening the fourth quarter.
But Talk ‘N Text countered with a 11-2 blast to lead 107-95.
Ren-Ren Ritualo had 26 points for the Phone Pals, who played without Mac-Mac Cardona and Harvey Carey because of suspensions.
Cardona was suspended for one game after committing two flagrant fouls on Jojo Tangkay and Carey sanctioned for two games for a flagrant foul 2 in Talk ‘N Text’s outing against Welcoat last Dec. 14.
Both players were also fined P20,000 each.
Like the Realtors, the Phone Pals are on a winning streak. They’ve won three straight with the win, a stretch they fashioned after wasting away a 24-point lead to Magnolia and losing 93-96 on a buzzer-beating triple from Lordy Tugade.
Kalani Ferreria had 11 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists while Jay Washington contributed 25 markers for the Phone Pals, who dealt the Express their fourth consecutive loss as Air21 dropped to ninth spot with a 5-9 standing.
Meantime, Atty. Chito Salud, one of two aspirants for the PBA’s commissionership post, yesterday filed a leave of absence as Sonny Barrios’ legal counsel ‘for the sake of propriety and fairness.’ Salud, son of former PBA chief Rudy Salud, is currently in a close battle with Lambert Ramos for the PBA’s top post, which would be known on Jan. 10.
