MANILA: Just when Red Bull finally got over that final bump on the road, the words that have made Yeng Guiao such a good copy suddenly escaped him.
The eloquent mentor struggled for words last night, just moments after his Barako scraped past Sta. Lucia, 85-81, to cop second seeding and automatically make the semifinals of the Fiesta Cup at the Cuneta Astrodome.
"I really can't explain how we got here. All I know is that we're just here, and we will enjoy it" Guiao said. "It's a tribute to the resiliency of the boys, even after we lost our key players (to one-sided trades)."
Towering import Adam Parada scored 19 points and grabbed 20 rebounds and four others turned in twin digit scores as Red Bull closed out its elimination round assignment with an 11-7 card to join Air21 in the Final Four.
Guiao sounded that way because very few gave the Barako a chance to go this deep this early after the team practically traded away its nucleus composed of Enrico Villanueva, Lordy Tugade and Larry Fonacier.
"We're used to making the semifinals," Guiao, the winner of five import-laced titles, added. "But getting there outright is like foreign territory for me and for us. We usually go through the quarterfinals."
Celino Cruz, who scored all of his 11 points in the final half, drained a triple from left quarter court with 2:40 left for an 82-78 lead, a good enough buffer which the Barako used to cushion a desperate charge by the Realtors.
Lee Benson scored 27 points and had 17 rebounds to lead Sta. Lucia, the reigning Philippine Cup champion which is playing with a lot of inconsistency to finish with a 7-11 card and be the lowest seed in the wildcard. Barangay Ginebra booked the last available automatic quarterfinal slot later in the night after outlasting defending champion Alaska, 97-90.
The Gin Kings actually grabbed third seeding with the win, completing a magnificent climb from a 0-5 start by finishing their elimination round schedule with six straight wins for a 10-8 tally.
Alaska, another team which started out slow before making a run at the lead after a similar six-game streak in the middle of the eliminations, dropped to the wildcard phase and will clash with Sta. Lucia in the first round. Purefoods and Talk 'N Text will battle in the other pairing, also scheduled Wednesday at the Ynares Center in Antipolo, with the winners advancing opposite each other for the last quarterfinal slot.
Tournament format will have Ginebra clashing with the winner of the wildcard phase in the quarters, which will be best-of-three, while Coca-Cola and Magnolia battle it out in the other match-up.
The winner of the Ginebra vs. No. 6 team will then advance to face Red Bull in the Final Four, which will be best-of-seven, while Air21, the tournament topnotcher, will await the winner of the Magnolia versus Coca-Cola pairing.
"What's there to say? Everyone played their hearts out today," Ginebra coach Jong Uichico said afterward. "I asked for their best before the game and I told them that without your best, this could be the end of our season because it will be tough going to the wildcard.
Jay-Jay Helterbrand led the Kings with 20 points and seven assists, import Chris Alexander had 18 and 29 rebounds and Junthy Valenzuela and Mark Caguioa finished in twin digits for a combined 33 for the Kings.
