The Tigers thus booked their best start in two seasons after going 3-0, while the Express dropped to 1-2 and, from all indications, look like to be the first team to discard a reinforcement in the season-ending tournament.

Young finished with just 14 markers and was clearly out of the rotation when the game hung in the balance. In fact, the Express did better when he rode the bench early in the fourth period as they even led by six points on several occasions.

The Express were up for the last time at 91-87 after a Ronjay Buenafe triple heading into the final 3:53 before Asi Taulava hit a lay-up and Norman Gonzales followed it up with a triple of his own as Coca-Cola regained the lead.

Taulava and Penny, who led Red Bull to the championship here four years ago, then scored consecutive baskets inside before a follow-up by Penny off his own miss sealed the outcome for the Tigers, 98-93, with just 20 seconds left.

“I am pleasantly surprised that we did not give up even if we were behind,” said Coca-Cola coach Bo Perasol. “I did not expect us to go 3-0. At the back of my mind I was happy winning just two of our first three games.”

Coca-Cola made the most out of Penny’s late heroics to make up for a poor performance from the free throw line in the fourth quarter. The Tigers missed eight of their 14 foul shots and finished the game with a 16-of-31 clip.

Penny fired seven of his total inside the final five minutes.

“Had we made some of those free throws, we could have pulled away earlier,” said Perasol. “But I’ll take the win because it builds character on them especially with the challenges they went through during the game.”

The Express actually took a 23-10 advantage in the first five minutes, thanks to Doug Kramer’s nine points. But the usually defensive-minded Kramer never scored after that as Air21 got rookie Ronnie Matias taking the cudgels for them.

Matias has easily been the revelation for the Express, if not the tournament itself. He finished with 18 points last night, the same output he had when Air21 broke into the win column Sunday night.

Gary David, who was named as the best player last week, tossed in 21 markers for the Tigers, who also got 10 points from Gonzales.

Defending champion San Miguel, meanwhile, rose to 2-1 later in the night, but not after being made to go through a tough time by Talk ‘N Text in a 112-106 overtime victory.

Gabriel Freeman, the Best Import last year, scored 10 points in each of the first two periods and finished 29 to go with 22 rebounds, three assists and two blocks, leading San Miguel past the tough Tropang Texters.

Dondon Hontiveros chipped in with 21, Jay Washington added 18 and Arwind Santos and Alex Cabagnot combined for another 25.

But despite some brilliant individual performances, coach Siot Tanquingcen still talked with a lot of dissatisfaction.

“We’re still miles away from the form that we want to be in,” Tanquingcen said in a very somber tone a few minutes after. “We cannot shoot ourselves in the foot by playing bad defense.”

Ranidel De Ocampo forged overtime at 97-all by hitting a three-pointer under heavy pressure with nine-tenths of a second remaining. But he couldn’t play the same after that because of cramps and played less than one minute in overtime.

He still went on to lead the Texters with 28, with Harvey Carey finishing with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Shawn Daniels had 16 points and 15 boards.