MANILA, 1 August — FedEx didn’t know what to expect of Novi Sad-Yugoslavia coming into their game on Wednesday night in the Samsung PBA Invitationals at the Astrodome.
So the Express did the next best things, which are to play their usual game and, at the same time, throw a pressure defense at the visitors all game long.
And FedEx was amply rewarded, scoring a 98-81 victory spiked by records to start off its campaign on a high note and grab a share of the Group A lead with idle Red Bull Barako.
“We only knew that they are tall and that they are expected to pound us inside. So I told the boys that we’ve got to use our quickness, outhustle them and take away their inside game,” said FedEx coach Derick Pumaren.
Vergel Meneses provided the highlight reel shots that fuelled the Express’ most telling surges. But it was Wynne Arboleda anchoring the team’s stifling full-court traps that clearly showed the kinks in the Yugoslavs’ armor.
With their players stifled just bringing the ball down court and their passing lanes clogged, the visitors failed to exploit to the hilt their height advantage. Novi Sad and Yonsei U of Korea now both have 0-1 cards.
There were other perks for FedEx. The team finished with 23 steals, breaking by three the league’s all-time record set by Toyota in 1979.
The Express also forced the Lamoiyan Corp.-backed visitors to 45 turnovers, erasing by five the previous all-time high committed by Tanduay in 1984. From those turnovers, Pumaren’s charges made 35 points.
While Meneses took over the scoring chores, finishing with a game-high 22, Arboleda wound up with seven steals, just one short of the league-high for locals shared by Johnny Abarrientos, Orly delos Santos and Willie Generalao.
All those added up to several surges that gave FedEx a 87-66 lead with 5:16 to go. Displaying a variety of shots that ranged from the breath-taking to the spectacular, Meneses scored eight points in spearheading an initial 17-5 run that gave FedEx a 44-33 lead at the half.
He was far from done as he scattered 10 points in the first six minutes of the third period that stretched the lead to 59-41. In the second game, Alaska, with their coach itching for whatever payback he could get, played near flawlessly and hammered Magnolia-China, 97-82.
Sun Jun, the vaunted scorer from the Chinese league, never got going last night, finishing with just eight points on a woeful two-of-14 clip from the field.
“We did a good job against Sun Jun. I know the things he can do and I think we covered him well,” said Cone.
“We have a tendency of underestimating our league a lot. But tonight, we showed we could stay with any pro team from China. We have a hard time against their national team because we really never get to prepare on a yearly basis like they do,” Cone said. Ma Jian was hardly a factor. He looked to be nursing an injury and was fielded in the last two minutes of the game only, when the game was already out of hand.
The scores:
First Game FedEx 98 - Meneses 22, Ferriols 18, Yap 12, Ritualo 9, De Ocampo 8, Arboleda 8, Ortiguera 7, Billones 6, Codinera 5, Rodriguez 2, Ejercito 1. Novi Sad - Yugoslavia 81 - Radovanovic 20, Subasci 20, Beljanski 14, Popovic 12, Vilic 6, Todorovic 4, Delic 2, Jelicic 2, Repac 1, Vekelic 0, Kos 0.
Second Game Alaska 97 - Peek 26, Cablay 15, Allado 15, Arigo 14, Cortez 9, Feihl 7, Duat 4, Padilla 3, Castro 2, Noble 2, Tejada 0, Ordonio 0. Magnolia Jilin 82 - Li 21, Wang 14, Zhao 13, Zhang 8, Sun 8, Y. Wang 6, H. Wang 6, Nie 4, Li 2, Ma 0.
