By JAY R. GOTERA
The Saudi Gazette
MANILA
BARANGAY Ginebra willed itself to victory despite playing without five key players, thumping Sta. Lucia, 112-101, Sunday night at the Araneta Coliseum in the PBA Fiesta Conference.
Rod Nealy exploded for 37 points, 19 rebounds and five assists to once again lead the Kings who played without Rudy Hatfield, Johnny Abarrientos, Mark Caguioa, Jayjay Helterbrand and Rafi Reavis – almost the entire nucleus of the team.
Hatfield had to leave for the United States to be with his troubled fiancée, Abarrientos was still saddled with an undisclosed injury, Reavis was still in the United States recuperating from surgery while Caguioa and Helterbrand are with the Philippine national basketball team.
Erik Menk, Ronald Tubid and Sunday Salvacion – Ginebra’s remaining local frontliners – stepped up big together with reserve Egay Echavez to push the Kings to their fifth victory in seven games.
The loss was the fourth for the Realtors who had no answer to Nealy, Ginebra’s workhorse import and prolific scoring machine.
Rookie Kelly Williams paced Sta. Lucia with 34 points, a conference-record for the Fil-American forward.
In the second game, the Red Bull Barakos scored their third straight win with a 102-90 victory over the Coca-Cola Tigers.
James Penny led the Barakos with 28 points, 22 of them coming in the second half.
Head coach Yeng Guiao, who is the reelectionist vice governor of Pampanga, sat out the game to make sure he wouldn’t commit any election-related violation.
Guiao’s absence hardly mattered though as the Barakos unleashed the same brand of energy and firepower they showed in past games.
With Penny hounding Coca-Cola import Anthony Johnson, Celino Cruz, Cyrus Baguio and Larry Fonacier took care of the scoring and propelled Red Bull to a 51-46 lead at halftime.
When Red Bull’s locals started cooling off in the second half, Penny took charge. The hardworking Red Bull import scored 11 points in each of the last two quarters including seven straight which erased a 65-64 Coca-Cola lead and put the Barakos ahead to stay, 71-65, late in the third quarter.
Larry Fonacier tossed in 17 points and Baguio had 16 and eight assists for Red Bull which improved to 6-1 (win-loss) record to stay on top of the standings.
It was another frustrating loss for the Tigers, who kept the game close but couldn’t come up with Red Bull’s telling spurt in the closing minutes.
Coca-Cola shot 51 percent in the first half as compared to Red Bull’s 41 percent but the Barakos had the lead at halftime on the strength of their 8-of-17 shooting from beyond the three-point arc.
The scores:
First Game
Red Bull 102 – Penny 28, Fonacier 17, Baguio 16, Cruz 9, Hrabak 9, Robinson 5, Valenzuela 5, Alvarez 4, Villanueva 4, Ybanez 3, Najorda 2, Bugia 0, Sharma 0.
Coca-Cola 90 – Johnson 21, Peek 21, Miranda 16, Arigo 13, Antonio 10, Avenido 5, Misolas 2, Tolomia 2, Pacana 0, Sotto 0.
Quarterscores: 29-22, 51-46, 73-68, 102-90.
Alaska 94, Purefoods 80
Alaska Milk crushed Purefoods Tender Juicy, 94-80, Saturday night in Subic, Zambales province.
The Aces found no answer on their searing start and blazing windup as they stretched their streak to three games with a 4-1 win-loss cards.
Alaska opened up with 10 unanswered points and played steadily up to the finish in dealing Purefoods its fifth defeat against two wins.
The Giants are now 2-2 with Marquin Chandler as their import in the season-ending tourney.
Chandler had a game-high 34 points but Alaska countered with a balanced offense that saw four Alaska Aces finish in double figures.
Willie Miller paced the Aces with 23 points, including a jumper to close the scoring at 94-80 with 30 seconds left in the clock. That was the biggest margin in the contest.
The scores:
Alaska 94 – Miller 23, Cariaso 18, Ellis 12, Thoss 11, Belasco 9, Aban 6, Hugnatan 6, Ferriols 5, Laure 4, Bajar 0.
Purefoods 80 – Chandler 34, Yap J. 20, Evangelista 10, Simon 7, Yee 4, Yap R. 3, Artadi 2, Castillo 0, Salvador 0.
Quarterscores: 25-22, 45-42, 70-63, 94-80
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