MANILA, 3 December 2004 — Sta. Lucia squandered a 17-point half-time lead but hung tough in the second half especially in the endgame to upset conference-leading and defending champions Talk N’Text 104-102 in a Gran Matador Philippine Cup road game Tuesday at the Puerto Princesa Coliseum in Palawan.
Getting monster games from Marlou Aquino and Kenneth Duremdes, the Realtors notched their fourth win in 12 games which enabled them to move up to ninth spot ahead of FedEx’s similar 4-8 slate via the winner-over-the-other rule, having defeated the Express 124-118 in their first meeting on Nov. 12.
Aquino played his best game this year to the tune of 29 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and one shotblock while Duremdes was his usual awesome self, finishing with 34 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists, three steals and three shotblocks.But the Realtors had to stave off Talk N’Text’s nitty-gritty stand up to the very final buzzer.
After Aquino led a 9-2 run in the fourth quarter which gave Sta. Lucia a 102-97 cushion, time down to 64 seconds, Alapag had a three-point play off a Mac Cuan foul to cut the lead to two.
Then after Dennis Espino nailed two charities off a duty foul by Mark Telan with 6.4 ticks remaining and gave the Realtors a 104-100 lead, Telan quickly retaliated with a basket with 2.1 ticks remaining and was fouled by Gerard Francisco.
Telan deliberately missed the bonus free throw and the loose ball went to Willie Miller. But the 2002 MVP, who led the Phone Pals with a personal conference-best 27 points, missed on a potential game-tying bank shot at point blank range as time expired.
It was only the Phone Pals’ second defeat in 12 games, which cut their lead over second-running Barangay Ginebra to just one and a half games. The loss also ended their second 5-game winning streak in the conference.
With Duremdes, the conference’s leading scorer, and Aquino surpassing their scoring averages of 19.8 and 12.2 points, respectively, right in the first half with their 23 and 16-point totals, the Realtors posted their first biggest lead of the game at 60-43 on a lay-up by Aquino which beat the half-time buzzer.
The 1998 MVP shot 10-for-15 from the field while Aquino made his first four shots en route to an 8-for-12 shooting clip in the first 24 minutes of action as Sta. Lucia shot a sizzling 57 percent from the floor. But after Aquino got his fourth foul early in the third period and was quickly sent to the bench,
Miller and Telan presided over a furious third quarter rally which cut Sta. Lucia’s lead to just a solitary point, 76-75, heading into the final period. Don Camaso then came alive in the fourth quarter for Talk N Text, scoring his team’s first five points while Alapag, after being held scoreless in the first half, joined in the scoring fray as the Phone Pals got their first taste of the lead in the fourth quarter and battled Sta. Lucia to six lead changes and two deadlocks before Aquino came up with his encore.
