By JAY R. GOTERA
MANILA
THE Air21 Express felled the Purefoods Giants, 102-89, Thursday night at The Arena in San Juan as the Express took advantage of the absence of ace gunner James Yap from the Purefoods lineup.
Yap could not join his ballclub as he was with his wife, actress and television host Kris Aquino, after she gave birth to their first child at the Makati Medical Center also on Thursday.
Defending slam-dunk champ KG Canaleta erupted for 30 points to lead Air21 to its sixth win in nine games.
The loss was the second straight for the Giants who were also beaten by the Barangay Ginebra Kings in Dubai last Friday. Purefoods absorbed its fifth loss in its last six games and slid to 3-7, just half-game in front of tailenders San Miguel Beer and Welcoat.
Shawn Daniels, Gary David and Wynne Arboleda also contributed mightily to the Express cause as they repeated over the Giants in a game marred by a near-fight between Purefoods’ Marquin Chandler and Air21 rookie Arwind Santos.
Emotions ran high after Chandler and Santos got entangled, causing Santos to crash to the floor. Chandler was called a personal foul while Santos and Purefoods’ Don Camaso were both assessed technical fouls in the aftermath of the near fight.
The Express whipped the Giants, 107-103, in their first meeting at the Cuneta Astrodome last March 23.
The scores:
Air21 102 – Canaleta 30, David 16, Daniels 15, Arboleda 11, Se 9, Santos 8, Torion 6, Telan 4, Dimaunahan 3.
Purefoods 89 – Chandler 26, Simon 19, Evangelista 12, Castrillo 10, Yee 8, Salvador 7, Yap 5, Camaso 2, Artadi 0, Gamboa 0.
Quarterscores: 28-15, 55-44, 79-64, 102-89.
Red Bull 100, Welcoat 71
The Red Bull Barakos made mincemeat of the Welcoat Dragons, 100-71, late Wednesday night at the Araneta Coliseum to regain solo leadership in the PBA Fiesta Conference.
The win was the eighth for the Barakos against two losses, keeping them half a game ahead of Barangay Ginebra and Alaska, both with a 7-2 card.
The loss sent the Dragons to the cellar in the company of San Miguel, both with a 2-7 card.
Red Bull import James Penny suffered a bruised left hand and sat out the last 20 minutes of the game after he crashed to the floor on a flagrant foul by Jay-R Reyes.
Enrico Villanueva exacted revenge for Penny later on, hacking Reyes on the head while the Welcoat rookie was going for a short stab.
The Barakos completely dominated the hapless Dragons, dealing them a third successive defeat.
Welcoat allowed Red Bull to pull away early with the Dragons shooting a paltry 28 percent from the field in the opening half.
Welcoat appeared to have a problem with its new import, Rob Sanders who was just 2-of-10 from the field and 2-of-2 from the stripe.
“Our import refused to play. He wouldn’t listen to his coach in the huddle,” lamented Welcoat co-team owner Terry Que.
Coach Leo Austria seemed to have had enough of Sanders that he decided to freeze him in the last nine minutes of the contest.
Sanders struggled for only 12 points and nine rebounds.
The scores:
Red Bull 100 – Valenzuela 19, Penny 14, Fonacier 13, Villanueva 10, Baguio 8, Sharma 7, Bugia 6, Hrabak 6, Robinson 5, Cruz 5, Alvarez 3, Najorda 2, Ybanez 2.
Welcoat 71 – Sta. Maria 13, Sanders 12, Cabatu 10, Reyes 9, Gelig 7, Wainwright 7, Lopez 5, Compton 3, Ibanes 3, Baguion 2, Lao 0.
Quarterscores: 25-15, 50-33, 80-48, 100-71.
No comments:
Post a Comment