By JAY R. GOTERA
The Saudi Gazette
MANILA
RED BULL pounced on a crippled opponent Sunday night, beating Purefoods, 98-88, at the Cuneta Astrodome to begin its defense of the PBA Fiesta Conference.
The Purefoods Tender Juicy Hotdogs played without main import Marquin Chandler, who’s suffered a knee injury even before he could play his first game in the Philippines this year.
Purefoods also lost ace center Kerby Raymundo to the national team while starter Marc Pingris and reserve forward Jun Limpot were still recovering from injuries.
In place of Chandler, Jesse King suited up for the Hotdogs. But the Texas University import played inconsistently throughout the game, losing in his matchup with Red Bull’s flashy reinforcement James Penny.
Cyrus Baguio led Red Bull in scoring with 17 points.
Purefoods and Red Bull were the two teams that clashed for the Fiesta Conference championship a year ago.
Both teams opted to bring in the same reinforcement that led them all the way to the Finals last year, which the Barakos won in six games.
In the first game, the Coca-Cola Tigers lost an 18-point lead and nearly threw the game away but recovered in due time to beat the Welcoat Dragons, 81-79.
Anthony Johnson, the Tigers’ import, accounted for 12 of his team’s 24 points in the final period as Coca-Cola held off repeated comebacks by the Dragons, who threatened to the turn the game around with a big third-quarter surge.
The 6-foot-5 Johnson, who was named to the 2006 All-USBL First Team and All-Defensive Team, shot just 7-of-22 from the field but made 13-of-18 free throws including two with 4.8 seconds left to give the Tigers a comfortable five-point lead after the Dragons pulled to within 73-76.
John Arigo scored 18 points and single-handedly carried the fight for the Tigers in the third while Ali Peek added 17 and had 11 boards as Coca-Cola outrebounded Welcoat, 52-37.
The Dragons found themselves trailing 45-20 at halftime, but they slowly got back into the game behind Jay-R Reyes, Denver Lopez and Charles Clark, who warmed up in the second half after a disappointing two-point first half where he was 0-of-9 from the field.
Reyes showed the way for Welcoat with 25 points, most of them on aggressive plays that sent Johnson – the man guarding him – into foul trouble.
With Coke’s import out with still five minutes left in the third after picking up his fourth foul, the Dragons capitalized on it and managed to trim the gap at 54-57 going into the fourth.
The momentum appeared to have swung in favor of the Dragons when Froilan Baguion and Reyes scored back-to-back baskets that put Welcoat ahead, 65-64, with 6:19 to go.
But they didn’t have enough time to enjoy the lead as Johnson answered with three free throws to put Coke back in front. The best Welcoat could do after that was to tie the count twice at 67-67 and 70-70 with 4:24 remaining.
The Tigers broke the last deadlock with a 6-0 run that virtually broke the backbones of the Dragons.
Alex Compton finally made his debut in the PBA, finishing with 12 points, five rebounds and three assists in 39 minutes.
Compton who is playing in the conference as Welcoat’s second import.
The scores:
Coca-Cola 81 – Johnson 29, Arigo 18, Peek 17, Antonio 8, Avenido 3, Miranda 2, Misolas 2, Tolomia 2, Pacana 0, Yeo 0, Sotto 0, Franco 0.
Welcoat 79 – Reyes 25, Clark 16, Lopez 13, Compton 12, Ibanes 5, Baguion 2, Cabatu 2, Sta. Maria 2, Wainwright 2, Gelig 0, Lao 0.
Quarterscores: 20-8, 40-25, 57-54, 81-79.
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