MANILA, 8 August 2003 — FedEx almost got ambushed by a tough but severely undermanned Yonsei U squad of Korea on Wednesday night in the Samsung PBA Invitationals at the Astrodome. No wonder that despite the Express’ 93-90 win, that kept alive their hopes of making it to the semifinals, coach Derek Pumaren was not entirely happy.
“I don’t think we had the right frame of mind,” said Pumaren. “I warned the boys about underestimating the Koreans and I guess they just didn’t listen.” It took FedEx, which trailed by as many as 10 points, a late splurge before it could overcome Yonsei and notch its second win in three games that is good for third place in group A. The loss was Yonsei’s third in as many games, booting it out of the race for the two semis slots from the group. But not after putting up the most gallant stand yet by any of the three foreign teams.
Things could have been drastically different if not for the inability to suit up due to injuries by Lee Sang Jun (right hand), Kim Chan Gyu (left knee), Kim Jong Wan (left shin), Kim Tae Sul (lower back) and Jung Seung Won (right ankle sprain). Even starting guard Seung Tae Choi had to sit it out from the 3:25 mark of the first quarter on after injuring his right knee following a bad fall off his drive and foul by Vergel Meneses. Despite all those, the Koreans used their hustle and quickness to make a game of it, posting a 57-47 lead in the third period and going into the last four minutes of the game with an 88-82 cushion. Then the wear and tear started taking their toll on the visitors while the Express gathered their acts together.
It took a 9-2 surge sparked by Yancy de Ocampo’s jumper, fueled by turnovers and capped by Wynne Arboleda’s lay-up before FedEx could seize the lead for good, 91-90, still 50 ticks left. Arboleda’s free throws made it a three-point game following another Yonsei miss. But thoughts of the Koreans tying it never wavered in the last 5.9 seconds and it took a three-point miss by Kwang Jae Lee just before the final buzzer sounded before Pumaren could heave a sigh of relief. “When you look at the Koreans play, without looking at the scoreboard, it seems as if the game is very close.
That’s their style of play, never giving up. Luckily we came out with the win, no matter how ugly,” said Pumaren. In the second game, San Miguel found enough tools - from Boybits Victoria’s accurate shooting to Olsen Racela’s late game heroics to Danny Ildefonso’s third quarter push — to weather the storm and cruise to a 114-98 win.
The Beermen led by 15, 82-67 as Joey Mente scored on a transition lay-up late in the third period. But the Chinese chewed off bits and pieces from that lead, closing the gap to 85-82 early in the fourth quarter. That was when Racela picked things up for the Beermen, scoring 13 points in the final canto to hold off the Chinese.
Victoria, who had 19 points over the last two quarters, knocked in a trey late the game to give San Miguel its biggest lead, 112-92, 1:11 to play. There was still color late in the game of the San Miguel-Magnolia battle as the two teams got physical.
Victoria, who finished with a team-high 24 points, and Racela, who chipped in 16, each got entangled with Li Aljun.
Ildefonso drew a technical for confronting Zhao Anan, who got away with an elbow to the San Miguel forward’s body, and was called for a flagrant foul for elbowing Li Jifeng. Ildefonso later claimed Li hit him behind the head. “It was physical because they really wanted to win this game,” admitted Uichico.
