ANTIPOLO, 24 May 2008 — Like the ferocious beast of the jungle it was named after, Coca-Cola needed just one big second half burst to growl once again.

The Tigers snuffed the life out of Red Bull in the final two quarters last night, bouncing back from a 13-point deficit to hack out an impressive 102-80 rout and reclaim a piece of the Fiesta Cup lead at the Ynares Center.

Coca-Cola detonated a 23-3 bomb in a span that bridged the final two periods as the Tigers put on their skates and dealt the Barako one of their uglier losses in the season to improve to 7-4 and tie their victims.

Last night’s result actually made it a three-way tie for the lead, with idle Talk ‘N Text also sporting the same slate, as the race for the top two slots and outright seats in the Final Four has now heated up.

Coca-Cola unveiled a new import in Donald Copeland, a 5-foot-9 guard, who took the place of George Gervin Jr.

Copeland, who was actually the team’s first choice as a small import even before the tournament started, debuted with just 14 points, but the way he ran the Coca-Cola offense helped the Tigers a lot.

Jason Dixon was again a monster on both ends, shooting 33 points and grabbing 16 rebounds aside from coming up with four steals, an effort that no one from Red Bull was able to match, even the highly-regarded Adam Parada.

The Tigers clamped down hard on the 7-foot Parada, who was held to just 20 points as Coca-Cola snapped a two-game slide.

“We really put a lot of effort in trying to stop Parada,” Coca-Cola coach Binky Favis said. The win also avenged a 72-65 loss suffered in the first round at the hands of the Barako, who, by some twist of fate, have never been knocked off from at least retaining a share of the lead even with two losses in their last three games.

It was actually a game littered with a lot of blunders as both teams combined to turn the ball over 56 times, with Red Bull having 31 boo-boos overall.

Red Bull started out hot, which has been its calling card for the tournament.

Cyrus Baguio shot 18 points in the first two periods. But the former Santo Tomas ace in the UAAP, who is on the way to being considered for so many individual awards this year, failed to sustain his hot start and was held down to just three more the rest of the way. And that told heavily on the over-achieving Barako, who found no one to take the place of Baguio as they were only able to score just 32 points in the second half compared to Coca-Cola’s 61.

Sta. Lucia, meanwhile, scored eight points inside the final 48 seconds to take an 88-79 victory over hard-luck Welcoat in the second game. The Realtors, the reigning Philippine Cup champions, survived a scare from the Dragons, needing 34 points and 19 rebounds from import Wesley Wilson to rise to 6-4 overall and remain in the hunt for an outright semifinal seat. Those totals, as well as his four assists, were all PBA-career highs for the workmanlike Wilson, who totally outplayed his front court rivals in a performance that drew praises from coach Boyet Fernandez. “He just does the things that are needed for us to win,” Fernandez said. “But of course, it was still total team effort.”

Kelly Williams added 16 points and rookie Ryan Reyes missed his first career triple double by two rebounds after shooting 12 and dishing off 12 assists.

The Realtors played skipper Dennis Espino for just seven minutes because of a recurring foot injury, and were without Marlou Aquino, who dressed for the game despite the flu. Espino was scoreless.

Marquis Gainous had 19 points and Corey Santee 18 to lead the Dragons, who lost for the second straight time and dropped to 3-7.