MANILA, 27 June 2003 — Talk ‘N’ Text held Alaska scoreless for more than six minutes in the final period to win game three of their best-of-5 semifinals series 87-74 on Wendnesday night in the Samsung PBA All-Filipino Cup at the Philsports arena in Pasig.
John Arigo waxed hot in the first half, scoring 17 as he threatened to duplicate the explosive show he put on in the Aces’ 86-77 victory in game two last Sunday.
Patrick Fran, however, put the clamps on Arigo in the third period while sparking a 16-4 run that enabled the Phone Pals to grab the upperhand 60-55. They never looked back en route to a 2-1 lead in the series.
Harvey Carey, who led all scorers with a career-high 22 points, and Mark Telan led another 17-0 run by Talk ‘N’ Text after Alaska scored the first two field goals in the final period and took its biggest lead at 87-66 with just five minutes left.
Coach Joel Banal, who is now 3-1 in his head-to-head matchup with former mentor Tim Cone, pointed to Asi Taulava, Carey and Telan as the key to their big win.
Taulava finished with 21 points and seven rebounds while Telan chipped in 10 points, eight of them coming in the Phone Pals’ big run in the fourth. Fran had 13 points that included three triples.
Banal said the defense put up by Fran against Arigo, who was limited to a single field goal in the second half, spelled the difference. The two squads battled to a tight first half, engaging in seven deadlocks and six lead changes, with the Aces finally taking a 49-44 lead at the half.
In the second game, the Coca-Cola Tigers, energized by the first long break it has had in the series, moved to within a win of a championship slot by hammering out a wire-to-wire 94-80 victory over Sta. Lucia.
The Tigers reeled off 12 straight points to start the game and spent the rest of the rainy night thawing off Sta. Lucia’s repeated heated rallies to move to a 2-1 series advantage in this best-of-five affair. “We came into the game hoping to have that effort in the fourth quarter of last game with us in the start of this game and we were successful. It’s always easier if you have the lead early and spend the rest of the game defending it,” said Coca-Cola coach Chot Reyes.
