MANILA, 20 April 2007 — It was all over in just two quarters for two struggling sides.
Red Bull broke away in the first half of a game made only interesting by physical play as the Barako regained solo leadership in the PBA Fiesta Cup after a 100-71 demolition job of Welcoat at the Araneta Coliseum.
The Barako built commanding lead early and looked on the way to wrapping up their eighth win in 10 games without a hitch until Jay-R Reyes hammered import James Penny so hard early in the third period.
Red Bull was way ahead, 61-36, when Penny got a swollen left wrist because of the incident, after he fell hard and used his left hand to cushion the impact.
Reyes, who obviously lost his cool after Penny stripped him of possession on the other end, was slapped with a flagrant foul and was made to sit it out for the next three minutes.
And it became interesting when Reyes returned as it seemed that the rest of the local Red Bull crew was just waiting for a chance to get even, with Enrico Villanueva tagging him hard behind the head in a driving play.
“He has some swelling (on the left wrist) and we will have it checked tomorrow (today) to determine the extent of damage,” interim coach Gee Abanilla said. “We certainly hope that it is not that serious and that it would not tell on us in the long run.”
Penny was never utilized again and finished with just 14 points and nine rebounds. Junethy Valenzuela, who scored 12 points in the first half and helped Penny stage the Red Bull breakaway, had 19 to lead Red Bull.
Adonis Sta. Maria had 13 points to pace Welcoat, which got just 12 points from Rob Sanders who was benched for most of the second half after being so ineffective.
Welcoat dropped to 2-7 with the loss and now shares the cellar with idle San Miguel Beer.
The first half was also what Talk ‘N Text needed earlier in ripping a listless Sta. Lucia side to shreds, 99-84, that made the Phone Pals stay in the middle of the elimination round pack - just the thing they set out to do. Sophonore guard Mark Cardona tossed in a gamehigh 24 points and Don Allado hit 12 of his 22 points in the first quarter in leading the Phone Pals to their first win in three games and fourth in nine outings overall for a share of fifth spot with Coca-Cola.
“We had a real good talk last Sunday and it showed tonight out there on the floor,” said coach Derrick Pumaren.
“We were taking some little things for granted, like talking on the court,” Pumaren added. “But tonight we were talking on defense and having more ball movement, instead of just standing around.”
“As a result, we had a good defense and our offense fed off it,” he added.
While the Phone Pals showed so much determination to win, the same could not be said of the Realtors, who just seemed to have rolled over and died after trailing early.
The Realtors trailed by as many as 31 points in the middle of the third period and eventually slumped to their second straight loss and sixth in nine games overall, good for an eighth place tie with idle Purefoods.
However, Purefoods can break out of that when they clash with the Air21 Express tonight at the San Juan Arena.
Top rookie of the year candidate Kelly Williams had 22 points, spiked by some gravity-defying slams. He also had eight rebounds.
Import Rock Winston was good for 21 points and 11 boards, but no other Realtor turned in double figures which spelled doom for Sta. Lucia.
James Sullinger chipped in 19 points and a game-high 15 rebounds and Anthony Washington added 10 and eight for Talk ‘N Text, which led by as much as 76-45 off a Sullinger putback, 4:20 left in the third period.
The Realtors never posed much of a threat after that as the likes of Cardona and Sullinger kept the Phone Pals well beyond reach of the lethargic Realtors.
“Before, we didn’t play with that much sense of urgency, that’s why I wrote ‘Play with a sense of urgency’ first on our board before the game,” Pumaren said, referring to their lukewarm stands in losing to Red Bull and San Miguel the past two weeks.
“We’re still looking at making the quarterfinals outright, that’s why I was so disappointed with our past showing. I thought we could be a .600 team after the first round of the eliminations,” he said.
Meanwhile, Coca-Cola has enlisted the services of National Basketball Association veteran Jeff Varem, who planed in yesterday morning to take the place of Anthony Johnson.
Varem had a short stint with the Chicago Bulls last year and will be the only legitimate NBA veteran in the current crop of reinforcements. He will be measured for the 6-foot-6 height limit at the league offices today.
