Kings maul Giants in Dubai as Red Bull, Coke win -- April 13, 2007

Kings maul Giants in Dubai as Red Bull, Coke win

By JAY R. GOTERA
MANILA
THE Barangay Ginebra Kings downed the Purefoods Giants, 92-82, Friday night at the Al Ahli Sports Club in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to remain on top of the standings in PBA Fiesta Cup.

Red Bull kept pace with Ginebra, both with a 7-2 card, as the Barakos mauled the Talk ‘N Text Phone Pals, 102-93, at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.

In the first of the rare three-game PBA offering, the Coca-Cola Tigers turned back the Air21 Express, 123-111.

In Dubai, thousands of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) jammed the Al-Ahli Sports Club as Ginebra, still playing minus six key players, dealt Purefoods its sixth defeat against only three wins.

The match was the first official PBA game in the Middle East.

Earlier, OFWs swarmed their favorite players from both Ginebra and Purefoods while clicking away with their digicams and cellphone cameras for souvenir shots.

Meanwhile at the Araneta Coliseum, Red Bull led all the way to hand Talk ‘N Text its second straight defeat, its fifth overall against three wins.

Talk ‘N Text tried several times to catch up with Red Bull, but the Phone Pals came no closer than eight points in the final canto as Red Bulls’ James Penny and Carlo Sharma doused cold water on the rallying Phone Pals.

In the first game, Coca-Cola’s Anthony Johnson came up with another big game while new acquisitions delivered big numbers to power the Tigers past the Express.

Johnson celebrated his 28th birthday by scoring 28 points and pulling down 18 rebounds as the Tigers snapped a four-game skid and improved their win-loss record to 4-5. The Express dropped to 5-3.

The 6-foot-6 Johnson shot 8-of-12 from the field and 10-of-14 from the foul line.

John Arigo contributed 23 points while Chester Tolomia and Ali Peek chipped in 14 and 13 markers, respectively, for the Tigers.

New acquisitions Alex Cabagnot, Ricky Calimag and Kenneth Duremdes, part of a five-player trade between Coca-Cola and Sta. Lucia Realty last week, displayed fine form and jelled well with their new teammates in just their second game with the Tigers.

Cabagnot, a second-year guard, wound up with 14 points and five assists, Calimag chalked up 13 points and hauled down five rebounds while former MVP Duremdes chipped in eight points.

Down 92-94, Coca-Cola went on a 15-4 run in the final frame with Johnson scoring six points and Duremdes drilling in a huge triple that gave the Tigers a 107-98 lead with 4:12 remaining.

The Express closed in at 102-109 on a jumper by Arwind Santos with 3:32 to go but the Tigers were quick to respond, with Cabagnot scoring on a quick layup and Arigo hitting two from the stripe off a foul by Wynne Arboleda to make it 113-102 with 2:32 left in the game.

Mark Telan led Air21 with 21 points while import Shawn Daniels and guard Gary David had 20 points apiece.

Meanwhile, “Dynamite” Danny Seigle emerged as the top vote-getter among the starters for the 2007 PBA All-Star Game this coming April 29 and will anchor the South All-Stars aiming for a back-to-back win against their North counterparts.
The San Miguel scoring machine tallied a total of 118,260 votes, to lead the voting for this year’s mid-season classic for the first time in this career.

A member of the all-pro RP Team that will try to earn a spot in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Seigle makes up the starting unit for the South along with other leading vote-getters Eric Menk of Barangay Ginebra (104,784), San Miguel teammate Dondon Hontiveros (83,808), Purefoods guard James Yap (106, 004)and Talk ‘N Text big man Asi Taulava (79,000).

The North squad is bannered by the popular Barangay Ginebra backcourt of Mark Caguioa and Jayjay Helterbrand, who received 101,172 and 96,204 votes, respectively.

The Kings’ “Fast & Furious” tandem will team up with Purefoods’ Kerby Raymundo (41,884 votes) and the San Miguel duo of Danny Ildefonso (50,392) and Romel Adducul (63,384) in forming the Northeners’ starting five.

The South All-Stars beat the North All-Stars by a cliffhanger 122-120 in last year’s event in Cagayan de Oro City in Misamis Oriental with Taulava winning his second All-Star Game MVP trophy in three years.