MANILA, 24 January 2008 — One big man short to begin with, Red Bull still found ways to win.
Magnolia, a team overflowing with so much talent, still couldn’t find a way to defeat Red Bull.
The Barako last night moved within another victory of eliminating the rock-solid Beverage Masters, playing steadily in the stretch for a 107-104 victory to creep closer toward the semifinals of the Philippine Cup at the Cuneta Astrodome.
Cyrus Baguio scored 15 points in the third quarter and finished with 31, leading the Barako to a 1-0 lead in their best-of-three series as the Beverage Masters lost for the third time in as many games to Red Bull.
“You can say that we have their number, but we still need to beat them one more time for all those wins to truly count,” Red Bull coach Yeng Guiao said. “It was heart that gave up this win. And it will still be heart which will help us win this series.” Red Bull played without suspended enforcer Carlo Sharma but got twin digit scoring from four others in the game that went freewheeling offensively in the second half, the type of game the Barako want.
And on the firing end most of the time was Baguio, who kept the Barako in the game in the third period before getting help from Mike Hrabak in the fourth to polish off the underachieving Beverage Masters. Danny Seigle led Magnolia with 25 points, but the team couldn’t cash in on numerous opportunities when it mattered.
Hrabak hit 6-of-9 three-point attempts, his nine fourth quarter points all coming from beyond the arc that stifled repeated Magnolia attempts to wrest control.
Alaska also took a 1-0 lead in its separate series with a tired Coca-Cola side earlier, pounding the Tigers relentlessly on both ends on the way to an 89-82 victory.
Willie Miller scored eight of his 23 points in the fourth period and Reynel Hugnatan seven of his 17 to carry the Aces to within another win of making the semifinals and stopping the Tigers magical run.
It was the first loss in four games for Coca-Cola, which got this far after ousting two formidable sides — Talk ’N Text and Air21 — in the wildcard phase as the No. 9 seed.
And it came after Alaska coach Tim Cone mapped out a ploy that was played to the letter and hit the Tigers hardest at the point where it truly hurts — the fatigue factor.
“We knew that if we pushed and pushed, the tide would turn in our favor,” Cone said. “It was a tough game to get rid of. But we’re going to come back and go at them again hard (in Game 2 tomorrow).” So tired were the Tigers that their leader, Asi Taulava, cramped up at the most crucial point of the contest. But he did continue and went on to finish with 22 points and a night-high 25 rebounds.
“Jeez, no wonder he cramped up,” Cone said of Taulava. “You can’t stop him from getting his double-doubles. What you have to do is try to limit him to something like 15-18 points and about 12 rebounds.” Miller, the reigning MVP, hit the clinching three-pointer with 1:38 to go, shoving the Aces to an 88-81 lead that put the game to bed.
Hugnatan and Miller scored all but five of the Aces’ fourth quarter tally as Alaska completed a rally from as many as 11 points down in the second period to deal the Tigers their first loss in their last four games.
“They (Tigers) kind of lost the bounce in their steps,” Cone said. “And it’s clearly understandable what they went through. But they have been good in games with their backs to the wall.
“We just wanted to come out there and break their confidence.” The winner of this series will advance to clash with No. 2 Sta. Lucia in the best-of-seven semifinals.
Meanwhile, Renauld “Sonny” Barrios yesterday formally accepted his appointment as the seventh commissioner of Asia’s first play-for-pay league, succeeding the resigned Noli Eala.
