It’s just too bad that Powerade stood in the way and, shockingly, was powerless to stop the Energy attack.

Barako Bull unleashed the frustration trapped inside them after a lopsided defeat to Alaska, venting the ire on Powerade Sunday night in a embarrassing 117-78 victory in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.

The sight of ball clubs being torn apart is becoming a common result these days, and the 39-point win ended up as the second biggest winning margin after Rain or Shine, the team the Energy will confront four days from now, plastered Meralco by 44 points (139-95) just recently.

“We lost to Petron by double digits and we responded in the next few games. We lost to Alaska by double digits and we responded well again,” said Barako Bull coach Junel Baculi.

“The players vowed to bounce back, but we didn’t expect a blowout. It just goes to show that we did our homework well.”

“We were wary of (Gary) David exploding again, but we did a good job defending him. We are here in the tournament to contend and we intend to remain there.”

Barako Bull indeed clamped down on the scoring champion, who finished the game with only five points on 1-of-8 shooting from the field.

The Energy kept their grip of solo third place with the win, and the Tigers dropped their fourth game in seven matches and were foiled in their bid to register a second straight win.

Defending champion Talk ‘N Text, meantime, returned from a nine-day break hardly showing signs of rust, equally coming through with a brilliant performance in an 86-71 win over crowd darling Ginebra.

The Tropang Texters notched their third straight victory and in the process kept leader Rain or Shine within striking distance.

The ball club that was denied of a rare Grand Slam bid last season by Petron now has a 5-1 (win-loss) record.

Ryan Reyes collected 20 points and six assists while 2007 MVP Kelly Williams scored 19 points and 11 rebounds for Talk ‘N Text, which won despite shooting just 35 percent from the floor.

What the Texters did right was to control the rebounds. They had a 59-44 edge in that department, with Ali Peek contributing nine and Japeth Aguilar, surprisingly, having seven.

Mark Caguioa led the Kings with 14 points and Mike Cortez 11.

So anemic were the Tigers that they dropped behind by as many as 53 points – yes, 53 points – at one point in the final quarter, 105-52.

Now, the Energy will next face the team everyone is talking about – Rain or Shine.

“The former team of coach Yeng (Guiao) will play against him on Friday,” said Baculi. “Ang bumangga, giba.” Be careful of what comes out of the mouth.

The Painters and the Energy are the only two teams that have won four straight games in the conference, and their upcoming clash is expected to draw so much interest even though the teams are not the ones fancied to make it deep in the tournament.

Sunday Salvacion led Barako Bull with 20 points, Willier Miller came back from a 2-of-10 shooting (5 points) against the Aces with 16, while Paul Artadi collected 14 points.

Sean Anthony paced the Tigers, 108-94 winners over Petron last Oct.

30, with 13 points while Doug Kramer contributed 12.

Barako Bull practically sealed the outcome after a 35-point effort in the second quarter. That explosion, after a 27-13 advantage in the opening period, gave the Energy a whopping 62-29 lead at the half.

Overall, Barako Bull’s 59.5 field-goal clip was the key element in the one-sided match. The Energy converted 47 of their 79 attempts.

Powerade just shot 33.3 percent from the floor on 28-on-84 shooting.