MANILA: For Boyet Fernandez, this could go down as the most important win in his coaching tour with Sta. Lucia.
The Realtors on Sunday night came back from several huge deficits to nip Red Bull, 102-98, and qualify outright for the quarterfinals and get a big boost in their drive to become the first team in 24 years to successfully defend the Philippine Cup.
“This win is one for the history books of Sta. Lucia,” Fernandez told reporters later. “The important thing is that we gave ourselves a chance to defend our title, unlike going into the wildcard had we lost.” Sta. Lucia closed out its elimination round assignment with a 10-8 card, good for fourth place at the moment but good enough to make the playoffs outright and avoid going to the one-miss-you-die round known as the wildcard phase.
No team in the last 24 years has been able to defend the all-Filipino crown, and Fernandez admitted that going to the wildcard would have given them a “slim to almost no chance” at doing so.
Joseph Yeo came off the bench to score 25 points and lead the Realtors, who won this tournament last year at the expense of Purefoods, which, interestingly, will be in the wildcard after lost for an 8-10 tally.
The Tender Juicy Giants came out in the short end of an 84-86 game against the Alaska Aces in the second game as the tournament leaders wound up with a league-best 12-6 card to draw the lightest assignment in the last four.
Alaska actually wrapped up one of two automatic semifinal berths as early as last week, but the Aces still played without letup last night and denied the Giants their slim chance at forging at least a playoff for an outright quarterfinal berth.
Idle Talk ‘N Text’ and Rain or Shine are both at 10-7 and with automatic quarterfinal slots.
The Tropang Texters and the Elasto Painters still have a game each left in their respective schedules and could end up fighting each other out in a playoff for the No. 2 slot if they both win.
Talk ‘N Text’s chance comes against the Air21 Express on Christmas, the same day when the Painters slug it out against Barangay Ginebra to formally close out the elimination round.
Only Red Bull failed to make it past the eliminations with a 5-13 tally, marking the first time in eight conferences that the Barako will not advance to the playoffs and only the second time in the last 18 tournaments. Prior to this conference, the Barako have made it to all the last six semifinal series.
The Realtors used a stifling defense to scuttle Red Bull, shutting down the Barako’s guns for a critical six-minute stretch in the fourth period that allowed Sta. Lucia to finally erase a 19-point first half deficit.
“As usual, defense did it for us,” Fernandez said.
Everything went the way of Red Bull in the first two periods as the Barako hit their first seven tries from three-point range.
Cyrus Baguio stood at the forefront of the Red Bull charge by shooting 17 points in the second quarter. But Sta. Lucia did not allow him to score after that, aiding the Red Bull downfall.
Veteran Dennis Espino, the Sta. Lucia skipper who is enjoying a rejuvenated offensive game, hit four straight charities that gave the Realtors a 96-92 lead heading into the final two minutes.
Espino finished with 23 points, while Kelly Williams, the reigning MVP, had 15 and 12 boards.
Jeff Chan, a second round choice whom many see has the potential to become one of the finest shooters in the league, matched his career-high with 23 points, with Paolo Hubalde shooting 12.
