MANILA, 31 March 2008 — Chalk up another small victory for Yeng Guiao.
At this day and age when good imports have been hard to come by, Guiao unveiled a gem of a reinforcement in Adam Parada last night as Red Bull turned back Barangay Ginebra, 89-83, as the Fiesta Cup eliminations went full throttle at the Araneta Coliseum.
Known for tapping super imports, Guiao got 28 points, 21 rebounds, five blocks, two assists and a steal from the Mexican Parada, who has so far been the most impressive out of eight imports who have so far debuted.
“We did not expect to get such a good game from Adam this early,” Guiao, who was responsible for bringing the likes of Tony Dwayne “The Hurricane” Harris, Ronnie Thompkins, Antonio Lang and James Penny to the PBA, said. “He works hard and he’s exactly what we need. We’re happy with our import.
“He’s not flashy nor is he spectacular, but he plugs the hole in our donut.”
Cyrus Baguio had a huge hand in the win, taking over Junthy Valenzuela’s chores to scored 23 points, capped by nine in the fourth quarter which told heavily.
The 6-foot-1 former Santo Tomas ace in the UAAP even had a fallaway jumper that beat the shotclock with 17 seconds remaining to seal the win for the Barako, who, under Guiao, have traditionally competed well in every import-spiced tournament.
While Parada proved to be a revelation for Guiao, the same could not be said of Ginebra’s Rahshon Turner, who was held down to just 12 points.
Ginebra had a chance to win the game after getting the bulk of Mark Caguioa’s 33 points in the first two periods. But the other stars in the team struggled big time, with Jay-Jay Helterbrand limited to just nine and Eric Menk scoring only four points.
In the first game, Air21 made the most out of the eight healthy men it had to repulse Welcoat, 105-96. National team member Ranidel de Ocampo had 25 points, Arwind Santos contributed 24 and import Steve Thomas dropped 23 and grabbed 15 rebounds to dominate his counterparts at Welcoat and get the Express started on the right foot. “I don’t know if our commitment to defend (starting this conference) had a great effect in that game,” said Air21 coach Bo Perasol said.
Air21 gave up an average of 106 points a game in the Philippine Cup won by Sta. Lucia. But the Express were stingy last night as the two-import combination of the Dragons couldn’t hold them off.
Five players were either injured or less than 100% for Perasol, with rookie forward JC Intal failing to suit up because of a mysterious viral infection contacted in the team’s stint in China recently.
Gabby Espinas, Erwin Sotto and Homer Se were down because of various injuries and Gary David was made to play even if he was still out of synch and recovering from an ACL operation last year.
David, though, managed to contribute three points and Perasol said that his prized swingman would be completely ready after just “another week or two.”
Welcoat was healthy but played sick, losing for the 12th straight time counting its last 11 games in the Philippine Cup. And the Dragons matched the longest losing streak in league history, one which Purefoods held after the 2003 season.
And the Dragons didn’t show much promise either, with big import Jason Keep failing to come up with a performance that would befit his hulking frame.
Keep, who is white, was held to just five points in the first three periods when the Express took control. He finished with just 12 markers, 15 rebounds and three assists in 37 minutes and was far from being impressive and dominating in his first PBA game.
