MANILA, 12 May 2008 — Talk about reversals in form.
Sta. Lucia last night choked the running Air21 game to submission as the Realtors, a usually deliberate team, were the ones who ran at every chance they got to post a 113-100 decision of the Express in the Fiesta Cup eliminations at the Araneta Coliseum.
The Realtors netted 27 points off transition plays, while Air21, arguably the most athletic team in the league, was held to just two in that department, allowing Sta. Lucia to bounce back from a previous loss with aplomb. It was the fifth win in eight starts for the reigning Philippine Cup champion Realtors, who took the floor last night still licking the wounds of a lopsided loss to Red Bull last week. The loss was the first in three games for the 4-4 Express, who were totally outclassed with only import Steven Thomas playing up to par and the others struggling completely.
Wesley Wilson and Kelly Williams each scored 25 points to lead the Realtors. Both actually had 15 points each in the first half which Sta. Lucia closed out with a 64-49 edge after outscoring the Express, 30-20, in the second period.
A big reason why the Realtors won last night and why they lost by 17 points to Red Bull on Friday was rookie Ryan Reyes, the starting off-guard of Fernandez who atoned himself in a huge way.
The 6-foot-1 Reyes, picked third overall in the Draft, made all but two of seven two-point tries, missed just 1-of-3 free throws and nailed the only three-pointer he attempted to finish with 15 points on top of a night-high 10 assists.
Against the Barako, Reyes, who was born in the Philippines but raised in the United States , failed to score.
Talk ‘N Text also bounced back, ripping Barangay Ginebra to shreds, 105-95, in the second game.
The Phone Pals played hard defense all night, clamping down on Ginebra’s guns to build comfortable leads early before thwarting repeated comebacks by the Gin Kings to climb to solo third place at 6-3.
So effective was the defense played by the Phone Pals that Mark Caguioa was forced to miss his first 14 shots, which gave Talk ‘N Text the chance to break free and to leads of as many as 70-42 near the halfway mark of the third period.
“I think we looked beyond Welcoat (last Friday) and paid the price,” said Talk ‘N Text coach Chot Reyes. “What can I say? I guess we did a good job on Caguioa in the first half. Fortunately, we had a pretty good lead to cushion the impact of Caguioa’s explosion.”
The ‘Spark’ did explode, and Ginebra nibbled away at that 28-point deficit to come within 80-88 with 6:53 to go after Jay-Jay Helterbrand nailed a triple off a pop-out pass by a double-teamed Caguioa.
Caguioa, the second leading scorer among all comers, scored all of his 24 points in the second half 16 of them coming in the fourth period as he almost single-handedly rallied the Kings.
But it was clear that the Phone Pals still had something to give, with Jimmy Alapag scoring on a layup and a three-pointer that sandwiched a Harvey Carey short stab that restored a 95-80 lead with 6:02 to play.
Mac Cardona led the Phone Pals with 26 points, whole Aaron McGhee, whose three-pointer gave Talk ‘N Text that 28-point lead, finished with 22 markers and seven rebounds.
Alapag dropped 10 of his 18 in the fourth period and also had eight assists and a steal.m Chris Alexander, the highly-touted Ginebra import, had 23 points and 19 rebounds. Helterbrand finished with 19 points and seven assists.
