Source: ABS-CBN News
-- Air21 handed Barako Coffee its second straight loss with a 113-108 win Sunday night in the KFC-PBA Fiesta Conference at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City.
Keena Young paced the Express with 25 points while Ronnie Matias added 18 markers on 6-of-8 shooting from the field to bounce back from an 87-92 loss to defending champion San Miguel Beer in their last game.
Mike Cortez contributed 15 points while Ronjay Buenafe and Renren Ritualo each had 13 points for coach Yeng Guiao.
“Barako Coffee gave us really a hard time and the key I think was being able to manage their import,” said Guiao.
“You can’t leave him (Sammy Monroe) alone because he keeps on scoring so I have to play zone (defense) and it worked,” he added.
Monroe still managed to score 36 points aside from grabbing 14 rebounds and dishing out 8 assists but he was a non-factor when the Energy Coffee Masters badly needed his offensive contribution in the payoff period.
Air21 led by as much as 11 in the third period, 80-69 at 3:34 mark of the third period but Barako Coffee unloaded a 20-11 run capped by Aries Dimaunahan’s jumper to pull within 2, 89-91, with 7:24 left in fourth.
Matias, Ritualo and Cortez joined hands for a crucial 8-0 run to push the lead back to 99-89 but Barako Coffee scored the next 7 points to threaten anew at 98-99 with 4:23 remaining in the game.
Buenafe hit a huge trey in the next play, Matias followed up his own missed attempt and Cortez and Young hit their free throws to erect a 110-102 lead with 1:02 left in the game.
Rob Wainwright contibuted 16 points for coach Junel Baculi, who was Guiao’s assistant with Burger King (now Air21) in the Philippine Cup.
Yousif Aljamal, Dimaunahan and Jojo Duncil chipped in 13, 12 and 10 markers respectively for the Energy Coffee Masters, who lost 2 in a row after surprising Sta. Lucia Realty in their opening game, 97-93.
Jerwin Gaco scored all of his 9 points in the second half where he helped the team to mount the rally that went for naught as Matias and company had an answer for the every run of Barako Coffee.
Painters shade Realtors
Rain or Shine also nailed its first win in the tournament after beating Sta. Lucia Realty, 84-77.
Sol Mercado had a crucial lay-up down the stretch while import Jai Lewis sealed the Elasto Painters’ victory with two free throws to bounce back from a sorry 96-99 loss to Talk ‘N Text from their previous game.
Mercado finished with 19 points including a drive that gave Rain or Shine an 82-77 cushion as the Realtors crawled back from 20 points down. Jay-R Reyes also had 19 points and grabbed 8 rebounds. Anthony Johnson paced Sta. Lucia with 29 points and 22 rebounds but it was not enough to stop the Realtors of abosrbing their second loss in three games.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
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