MANILA, 25 March 2007 — Gary David knows that this is the time to shine.
And he’s taking Air21 along for the ride.
David scored eight points in overtime to finish with 32 and Mark Telan had the best game of his life last night in leading the Express to a 107-103 decision of Purefoods to stay on top of the PBA Fiesta Cup standings.
David scored his baskets at the most opportune time and Telan was there to back him up all night as the Express won a fourth straight game to extend the franchise’s best PBA start while dealing the Tender Juicy Giants their first loss with Marquin Chandler aboard.
Chandler was superlative to say the least, shooting 42 points and grabbing 21 boards in a one-man show that almost spelled victory for Purefoods, which is now at 1-3.
“I just wanted to show the fans that the PBA is still a good league even without the superstars (who are on loan to the National Team),” David, a three-year pro out of Lyceum, told reporters in Filipino. “There’s still so many players to watch.”
Playing his second game after sitting out the first three Purefood’s losses because of a slight MCL tear, Chandler was Mr. Do-It-All for the Giants, playing all of 53 minutes and missing a triple double by just three assists.
But the Express were not to be denied, the driving factor behind their hard-nosed stand coming into the game as strong as it could get.
“The motivation for us tonight was not to extend the 3-0 start, but to beat Purefoods for the first time in two conferences,” Air21 coach Bo Perasol, who had a 0-4 record against Purefoods since last year, said. “I had to find a way to tickle the players’ minds and hearts.”
Burly Shawn Daniels scored just eight points, but the final four came when the game was tightest and his 22 rebounds propped the Express up. His rebound total was also the biggest by anyone for the season.
Red Bull wrested solo second place later on, annihilating listless Sta. Lucia, 114-79 for a 4-1 card.
The Barako and import James Penny came out hard in the second half and snuffed the fight out of the Realtors with a blazing third quarter, which ended 78-55, after Penny scored 12 of his 23.
“This makes up for the bad game we had against Ginebra,” Red Bull coach Yeng Guiao said. “And James made up for his sub-par game pretty early.”
Penny, who was held to just 18 points in a 105-111 loss to the Kings last week, also had 10 rebounds and two blocks despite playing just 27 minutes and riding the bench in the fourth quarter with the outcome already settled.
The Realtors, who came into the game hoping to ride the momentum of their first win, crashed back to Mother Earth with their third loss against a solitary win.
“I thought it would be a tough game,” Guiao added. “But they (Realtors) just folded up in the third quarter. We just played so well and we didn’t want to crush their confidence this way.”
Barangay Ginebra rolled to a third straight win Thursday night, getting 26 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists from import Rod Nealy in a 101-97 decision of Coca-Cola at The Arena in San Juan.
The Gin Kings played steadier in the clutch to improve to 3-1, good for solo third place, while the Tigers lost for the second time in their last three games for a 3-2 card.
In a related development, Allan Caidic yesterday stepped down as Coca-Cola team manager in able to hopefully return to any of San Miguel’s three teams in the league.
The 1990 MVP tendered his resignation less than two months after the Coca-Cola team was bought from San Miguel by Coca-Cola International based in Atlanta, Georgia in the United States.
Talk ‘N Text and Welcoat, meanwhile, try to arrest two game losing streaks when they tangle at 6 tonight at the Araullo University gym in Cabanatuan City.
