MANILA, 17 May 2004 — Mark Sanford played with a hurting knee. This hardly showed, however, as he capped a game-high 35-point performance with a clutch basket that powered Coca-Cola to a 102-100 win over FedEx in the Gran Matador PBA Fiesta Conference at the PhilSports Arena.
Sanford’s shot, a long two off a Rafi Reavis screen, enabled the Tigers to post a 100-97 lead in the last 32 seconds of the tightly-fought game marred by the Express’ inability to execute down the stretch.
Instead of going for a quick two, Ren-Ren Ritualo and Roger Yap each opted for a triple try that missed.
After Mike Maddox made it a two-point game with his fifth triple of the game, still five ticks to go, no FedEx player was near the scattered Tigers players who simply passed away the remaining time.
Coca-Cola escaped with its 10th win in 15 games and moved just behind idle leader San Miguel Beer, closer to the lone remaining outright quarterfinal slot.
Undeniably a big factor was Sanford, who also had 17 rebounds, three dunks and a block despite reportedly suffering from a hyper-extended right knee and a contusion on his left.
Despite having Maddox on bench for majority of the game due to foul trouble, FedEx still slugged it out, forging 14 deadlocks and 20 lead changes. In the end, the Express slipped to 11-4 in the company of cellar-dwelling Purefoods.
It was also Reyes’ eighth triumph in as many games in his head-to-head duel with Lipa dating back in the 1994 season when the former was still with Purefoods and the latter with Shell.
The game marked the return to action of veteran center Jerry Codinera who suffered a life-threatening ulcerous colon last December. He logged two points, four rebounds and an assist in 16 minutes.
Coca-Cola handily won their first meeting 95-86 but neither team led by more than seven points on Sunday.
Coca-Cola could have won more comfortably if not for John Ferriols’ gargantuan efforts in the fourth quarter.
With FedEx trailing 86-90, Ferriols scored four points, grabbed three rebounds and had an assist as the Express charged back on top 92-90. His undergoal stab made it 95-94 and his follow-up of his own miss pegged a 97-98 count, still 56.9 ticks left.
In the second game, Fil-Am Denver Lopez came out of his shell, erupting for a career-high 18 points as Red Bull Barako tamed Alaska Milk, 91-84, to move up at join the fourth place with Talk ‘N’ Text on 8-7 (win-loss) record.
Lopez, a rookie out of Cal State in Fullerton, went five-of-five from behind the three- point arc, a triple short of tying retired Purefoods guard Glen Capacio’s six-of- six, which the latter accomplish twice in his career.
It was also Lopez who fed Mick Pennisi for a triple with 6.9 seconds to go that broke the backs of the Aces, who skidded to solo third spot after suffering a seventh setback against nine wins.
The triumph also gifted Barako coach Joseller “Yeng” Guiao his first win before being proclaimed as Vice-Governor of the province of Pampanga Sunday morning. “I just told my players to take the outside shots without hesitation and that’s what Denver did,” said Guiao, who still has a wild card chance of landing an outright spot in the quarters.
Meanwhile, Purefoods could break out of the cellar should its new import be enough to power the Hotdogs over the Talk ‘N’ Text Phone Pals in their meeting tonight at the Araneta Coliseum.
