MANILA, 30 March 2007 — The joyride finally ended for Air21.
Red Bull jumped out of the gates hard and finished with a lot of poise to hammer out a 116-111 decision of the Express on Wednesday night for the solo lead in the PBA Fiesta Cup eliminations at the Araneta Coliseum.
James Penny scored 39 points in the first three quarters and was the biggest defensive factor at the crunch as Red Bull improved to 5-1 while snapping Air21’s winning run at four games.
It was the second straight victory for the Barako, who led by as many as 16 points at one time in the third period before flirting with disaster in the fourth when the Express clawed back relentlessly.
Beefy Shawn Daniels turned in a huge offensive game and finished with 29 points.
But he missed two crucial free throws with 1:11 left which would have tied the game at 107 and applied pressure on the Barako.
Daniels, who was held to just eight points in the last Air21 win but was offensive-minded last night, also had 19 rebounds and eight feeds. He also had four blocks like Penny, who wound up with 40 and 14 boards.
The game was played at a breakneck pace and rugged at the same time, with action halted in numerous instances because of rough play.
Air21s Homer Se was thrown out after flagrantly coming into contact with a game official while contesting a call. He tore the lock on the Air21 locker room later on and expected to be fined heftily because of that.
“We played their (Express’) running game because we felt that our import (Penny) was quicker than (Shawn) Daniels,” said Red Bull coach Yeng Guiao. “And as good and as hard as Air21 played, I had a feeling (coming into the game) that they were going to lose this one.
“They were due to play a bad game, lose some breaks,” Guiao added. “It’s the law of averages.”
Red Bull, the defending champion here, flaunted control the whole game, even leading, 70-54, after a Celino Cruz three-pointer at the start of the third period.
And from 97-106 early in the fourth, the Express scored on an 8-0 spurt capped by a Daniels reverse that made it 105-106 going into the last 5:39.
The Barako, who are missing dependable big man Mick Pennisi because of national team duties, went scoreless for a three-minute span which allowed the Express to come close.
But Air21 never got to exploit this after missing several crucial attempts from inside and out, those two Daniels free throws proving to be the biggest boo-boos of the contest.
“James again came through for us, both in offense and defense,” Guiao said in praising his ultrasmart import. “We felt that this was a special game for us, a crucial game because we can gain momentum.”
Purefoods, meanwhile, outlasted Talk ‘N Text in the fourth period even with super import Marquin Chandler riding the bench as James Yap and Paul Artadi delivered in a 101-95 decision in the second game.
Artadi came off the bench and issued all of his six assists in the fourth period and Yap canned 15 of his 23 in the same span that carried the Tender Juicy Giants to their second win in six contests.
Chandler rode the bench for quite a while in the fourth because of fouls and the Giants fought harder when this happened.
“I give credit to them,” Chandler said of his locals. “They increased our lead even if I was sitting there (on the bench). That just shows you how comfortable we are with each other and it shows you what we (as a team) can do.”
Chandler still went on to lead all Purefoods shooters with 29 and he was chiefly responsible in giving the Giants the lead early. Purefoods led by as many as 17 points in the first period before the Phone Pals made a run in the third to take a 70-68 lead into the fourth quarter. “My much-maligned locals came out to play tonight,” said Purefoods coach Ryan Gregorio. “This team has so much pride. We came out not looking for excuses to lose again because some of our key players are not there.”
Marc Pingris and Jun Limpot continued to sit it out because of injuries, with Pingris likely to be out another month, at least, because of a severe left ankle sprain. Kerby Raymundo will not join the team for the rest of the tournament because of duties to the national squad.
JJ Sullinger led the Phone Pals with 34 points, 16 of them coming in the third period when Talk ‘N Text made a game out of it and even wrested the lead.
