MANILA, 30 January 2006 — Barangay Ginebra is not the only team that doesn’t give up.
Red Bull came thundering back from eight points down last night in the final two minutes against a side that has made comebacks its trademark, pounding out an 88-85 victory over the Gin Kings to move within a breath of nailing a finals seat in the PBA Fiesta Cup. Enrico Villanueva capped a mighty rally by scoring the Barako’s final six points for Red Bull’s third straight win and a 3-1 lead in this side of the best-of-seven semifinal, which, incidentally, not a few gave Ginebra the edge. Villanueva finished with 21 points, 10 in the fourth quarter, as Red Bull survived the ejection of import James Penny because of technical fouls with still a good 4:27 left to play and the Kings ahead, 84-77.
Larry Fonacier set a career-high on points for the second straight night, shooting 25 this time to lead the Barako and announce his coming as a legitimate force for the team in these playoffs.
Penny was sent to the showers after arguing a call slapped on him against Mark Caguioa. But instead of rolling over, the Barako fought harder and snatched one from under the Kings’s noses. Villanueva first hit a jumphook off Rommel Adducul and then canned a followup off his own miss in the next Red Bull offensive to shove the Barako ahead to stay, 86-85 with 6.7 seconds left from 85-77 entering the final two minutes.
Purefoods put Air21’s dream playoff run near its end later in the night, starting strong and finishing with conviction for a 100-90 decision for a similar 3-1 lead for the Chunkee Giants in the other Final Four. Noy Castillo drilled in 24 points built around a 6-of-8 clip from beyond the arc, while Marc Pingris chalked up career-highs in points and rebounds with 23 and 16, respectively, in a two-pronged attack the Express did not have an answer to.
The Giants scored 30 points in the first period and built leads of as many as 22 in the second quarter before holding on in the third when the Express got their bearings back with 35 points to come within six a number of times.
The Purefoods defense also held Air21 to only 29 first half points.
