MANILA, 11 May 2008 — Standing barely over six feet and with one of the leanest bodies in the PBA today, George Gervin Jr. certainly knows how to play big as in really big.

The son and namesake of the Hall-of-Famer Friday night played according to pedigree and was a virtual one-man wrecking crew that led Coca-Cola to a thorough 106-92 thumping of Magnolia for a piece of the Fiesta Cup elimination round lead.

Gervin scored 10 of his 35 points in the fourth period, keying a Coca-Cola breakaway that resulted in the Tigers’ first authoritative win in the tournament for a 6-2 card, the same slate being held by idle Red Bull.

The tiny guard actually made the Beverage Masters pay, when they pressured big import Jason Dixon right from the very start.

Gervin, a 31-year-old who has been touring the world with stints in professional tournaments after failing to crash the NBA because of his size, hit all but four of 10 attempts from three-point range.

“It was clear right from the tip (off) that Magnolia came to the game with the mindset of trying to get (Jason) Dixon out of the game,” said Coca-Cola coach Binky Favis. “And they did a good job. Good thing that Gee bailed us out.

“In all of the wins that we have had thus far, I can safely say that this one was the most convincing.”

But it was not only Gervin who was amazing, but Asi Taulava as well.

The 6-foot-10 former MVP while playing for Talk ‘N Text scored 21 points and hauled down 15 rebounds, plugging the hole left by Dixon for a tremendous back up effort to Gervin.

Ronjay Buenafe, the flashy, 6-foot-2 rookie out of Emilio Aguinaldo College , was the last player in twin digits for Favis, shooting 13, including two free throws with 3:10 left that opened up a 100-80 lead for the Tigers.

An 11-2 run to start the fourth period settled the outcome, as the Tigers bloated a 75-71 lead to 86-73, going full speed ahead at every chance they got with Gervin capping that spurt with a layup with 6:56 left.

The loss was the fourth in eight games for the Beverage Masters, the strongest team on paper who have been having more than enough problems because of the abundance of available manpower.

Magnolia was without Danny Seigle for the third straight game, and Lordy Tugade stepped up yet again, shooting 23 points to lead the team. Import Jameel Watkins tossed in 12 points and had 12 rebounds but was scoreless in the fourth period.

Welcoat bounced back from a lopsided loss with a convincing win of its own later, winning out in a fourth quarter shootout against the hottest team in the tournament, Talk ‘N Text, for a 116-108 victory in the second game.

The Dragons, who came into the game smarting from a 111-97 beating at the hands of Sta. Lucia, battled back from several double digit deficits to pound out their third win in eight games and snap the Phone Pals’ three-game streak for 5-3.

Rob Wainwright was tossed back into the fray early in the fourth period and scored 14 of his 24 points in the period as the Dragons avenged their first round loss of 36 points to the Phone Pals in style.

“The players showed a lot of heart out there, wanting to get back,” said coach Caloy Garcia.

Meanwhile, the fines “less the suspensions” that commissioner Sonny Barrios levied on Sta. Lucia’s Wesley Wilson and Red Bull’s Adam Parada has caused an uproar coming from the teams that were not even involved to begin with.

Barrios had fined Wilson P65,000 (about $1,550) and Parada P20,000 for the fight that they had during garbage time of a game won convincingly by Red Bull last Wednesday also at the Araneta Coliseum.

He didn’t mete out any suspensions.

Tim Cone of Alaska , in a text message sent to Arab News, deplored Barrios’ decision to spare Wilson most especially of a suspension, a stand later on shared by Air21, which made its disappointment known to the commissioner.

Cone aired his disgust after his import, Randy Holcomb, was canned for a game and fined P20,000 for breaking Red Bull forward Rich Alvarez’s nose in a game three weeks ago.

Air21, on the other hand, looked into an earlier ruling by Barrios, who suspended KG Canaleta for a game and fined him P20,000 for hitting, interestingly enough, Parada, in a game earlier in the tournament.

“We will not stop pursuing this matter,” said Air21 board representative and team manager Lito Alvarez, who personally went to Barrios to appeal the decision and suspend Wilson .