Petron tears Express asunder in PBA Governors’ Cup

When everything is working for powerhouse Petron Blaze, there are a very few teams that can stop the Boosters.
And sadly enough, Air21 couldn’t even come close to being one of them.
The Boosters ripped the Express to shreds from the second quarter on and posted an emphatic 112-86 victory that gave Petron the early solo lead in the PBA Governors’ Cup eliminations Wednesday night at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
“Certainly, this win augurs well for us, this being a very short tournament and all,” Petron Blaze coach Gee Abanilla said after getting six players in twin digits led by Elijah Millsap’s 27 points and 14 rebounds.
“We need all the wins we can get,” he added. “And we have a tough seven-day stretch ahead of us where we play three games, with San Mig Coffee being our next opponent.”
Millsap, a younger brother of Utah Jazz power forward Jason in the National Basketball Association, scored 14 of his total in the third period as the Boosters zoomed to leads of as many as 27 points before playing in cruise control the rest of the way.
Petron sat on an 11-point bubble at the half and then let it all hang out in the third with Millsap leading the way as the Boosters took its largest lead yet, 76-50 which the Express would never recover from.
The victory gave the Boosters a 3-1 card and Petron grabbed the solo lead after Rain or Shine fell later in the night, 94-79, to Alaska.
The Elasto Painters lost Paul Lee to an ankle injury during practice on Monday and Rain or Shine fell behind early and was never the same.
Alaska got 30 points from import Wendell McKines and 21 from point guard JV Casio, who lit up the scoreboard in the third period with all of his three treys happening there on the way to 12 points.
Lee, last season’s top rookie, missed the game for the Painters because of a right ankle sprain and none of coach Yeng Guiao’s other quarterbacks was able to plug the hole.
Arizona Reid led the Painters with 22 points, but the next best scorers were Chris Tiu and Jeff Chan, who tossed in 10 each.
“We took advantage of our opportunities,” Alaska coach Luigi Trillo said, referring to the absence of Lee on the other end. “We had a fresher lineup and no one was injured. We maximized that.
“We didn’t expect Rain or Shine to be like this,” continued Trillo, who won his first title in the last Commissioner’s Cup. “I thought we would be in for a battle.”
Air21 coach Franz Pumaren tried everything he could in order to stop the bleeding, including calling for three timeouts in a span of less than two minutes.
But even that failed to stymie the Boosters from their run as the Petron defense also worked, with Millsap putting the cuffs on Graham.
“He (Millsap) is a silent operator, a workhorse who provides leadership for all the locals,” Abanilla said of his prized import.
Petron completed the annihilation in the fourth when it held Zach Graham, the Air21 import, scoreless in the final quarter. The Boosters posted their biggest lead, 112-79, heading into the final two minutes.
Rookie center June Mar Fajardo tossed in 17 points that went with nine rebounds in a superb back-up job to Millsap, with Marcio Lassiter and Alex Cabagnot firing 13 points each while combining for 10 assists.
Graham finished with 19 points for the Express, who took a second straight loss in a 1-3 card.