MANILA: There’s another interesting race going on in the Philippine Cup, and it’s taking place at the bottom of the standings.
After not tasting success for more than two months, Barako Bull last night brought down a fancied heavyweight in Talk ‘N Text, 99-97 at the Araneta Coliseum, as the Energy Boosters propped up their bid to make the wildcard phase of the season-opening tournament.
Jojo Duncil hit the Boosters’ final three points inside the last 21.8 seconds as Barako Bull withstood a furious finish by the defending champions to finally snap a 12-game losing streak and put the wildcard phase within reach.
Barako Bull improved to 3-13 with the upset win while dousing cold water on the Tropang Texters’ aspirations of making the semifinals outright.
Talk ‘N Text lost for the second straight night and dropped to 10-7, now fourth in the standings, and the best it could hope for is to make the quarterfinals automatically.
Barako Bull moved within half-a-game of ninth-running Coca-Cola, which, incidentally, will be its last elimination round assignment.
Only one team will be eliminated and the Tigers, who are at 3-12, will close out with games against powerhouse and early semifinalist San Miguel and Rain or Shine before that crucial encounter with the Boosters. Duncil finished with 10 points and was one of four Boosters in twin digits.
In the first game, Purefoods stayed alive in the hunt for an automatic semifinal berth after getting 14 second half points from KG Canaleta in a 101-88 victory over Rain or Shine.
Canaleta came off the bench to provide the points that stung the Elasto Painters, as the Tender Juicy Giants climbed to 10-6.
Rain or Shine, meanwhile, slumped to a second straight loss for 4-12 and is not out of the woods just yet. The Painters have Coca-Cola and Alaska as their final two elimination round foes and would need to beat both to assure themselves of playing past the eliminations.
James Yap scored 23 points and Kerby Raymundo 22 for the Giants, who could win 12 games at best and would need to hope that the Aces don’t win more than that number to at least forge a playoff for the second berth.
“For as long as there is life, we will continue to pursue it,” coach Ryan Gregorio said when asked of his team’s outright semifinal chances.
“”We really didn’t want to lose the opportunity to have a crack at the semifinals (outright),” Gregorio added. “But, even at this point, the automatic quarterfinal (seat) is something worth working for.”
Rain or Shine got a career-high 29 points from Gabe Norwood, who scored 21 of those in the first two quarters. But he basically did it all by himself in the first half, and the Painters got buried in holes as deep as 19 points.
