MANILA, 26 November 2007 — Sta. Lucia should’ve learned its lessons well when it first met Purefoods.
Unfortunately, the Realtors forgot all about it, thought they were in complete control this time, and again suffered a defeat mainly because of a rookie with a veteran fighting spirit.
“This (victory) was because of our bench men,” said Purefoods coach Ryan Gregorio. Good thing Chico Lanete and Rob Sanz had all the energy needed to spark the Giants.
In what Gregorio said was perhaps their best games of their early pro basketball careers, Lanete and Sanz combined for 18 points as Purefoods rallied to frustrate Sta. Lucia, 84-81, to remain at the top of the standings in the Philippine Cup last night at the Araneta Coliseum. Lanete, the Lyceum product, scored all of his 12 points in the second half, including seven in a game-turning 10-2 Purefoods run early in the fourth quarter, and Sanz added six in the fourth as the Giants again pulled off a win very much the same way they did when they battled the Realtors in the first round. Purefoods, which now has a 9-1 (win-loss) record, trailed 28-38 at the half and was behind 50-55 when Lanete took matters into his own hands. He began Purefoods’ scoring in the fourth period with a jumper and, after a split by Sanz, connected on a triple as the Giants finally took the upper hand at 56-55 with 10:52 left. He then capped his brilliant offensive effort with a pair of free throws as Purefoods claimed a 60-55 lead. From there, Purefoods showed confidence that wasn’t witnessed since it took a 6-0 lead early in the game. And even if the Realtors came to within 77-81 on a split from Kelly Williams with 41 seconds left, the veteran Kerby Raymundo took over.
Raymundo was barely 20 seconds into the game when he drained a three-point shot from top of the key, the shot hitting nothing but net as Purefoods finally finished off Sta. Lucia with an 84-77 advantage with only 17 seconds remaining. Purefoods checking an anemic form in the first half and outlasting Sta. Lucia without much help from its starters wasn’t the only big thing of the night.
Red Bull continued to surprise everyone with its third straight win and sixth overall in nine games, this time upsetting Talk ‘N Text, 109-104, in the second game. No longer a team feared, the Bulls led by as many as 21, 65-44, in the third quarter but lost it in the same period and even trailed 71-78. But Junthy Valenzuela, playing in his second game after recovering from a pulled hamstring injury, starred in the comeback in the fourth quarter. To top it off, he was the one who bailed Red Bull out of danger when he converted a pair of charities and then added another as the Bulls broke out of a 104-104 standoff to lead 107-104 with 19.3 seconds left. The Phone Pals, who dropped to 5-5 (win-loss), had the chance to tie the game but Anthony Washington couldn’t control a bounce pass from Jimmy Alapag. The loose ball went to the hands of Warren Ybanez, who got fouled, and made both free throws. The manner of Purefoods’ victory was virtually similar to the result way back in Oct. 17, 2007, the second playing day of the season-opening conference. Sta. Lucia led by as many as 16 points in the third quarter in that contest, had a 10-point lead entering the fourth period, yet simply couldn’t sustain the drive. In the end, the Realtors lost by seven (89-96) after being outscored in the final period, 30-13. James Yap topscored for Purefoods with 16 points but only shot 6-of-18 from the field, while Marc Pingris, humiliated in one fastbreak play when Williams towered over him for a reverberating slam dunk, added 13 points and nine rebounds. Aside from his output on points, Lanete also contributed three rebounds, two assists and two steals. Williams had a game-high 27 points, while Joseph Yeo and Dennis Espino each added 16 points for the Realtos, who were outrebounded despite being known as a team with the ‘ Twin Towers ,’ 38-53. The only consolation for the 4-5 (win-loss) Realtors came through Marlou Aquino, who became only the fifth player in PBA history to register at least 1,000 shot blocks. He registered the feat 74 seconds into the fourth quarter.
when he rejected a driving shot by Rommel Adducul, joining Ramon Fernandez, Philip Cezar, Benjie Paras and Jerry Codinera in the elite club.
