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| Don Allado made some Twitter blunders as the Energy stumbled out of contention. |
POWERADE TIGERS over BARAKO BULL ENERGY, 99-95
No Gary David in the crucial stages of the playoff, no problem for Powerade.
The Tigers came out in vicious form sans their best local player and hammered out a 99-93 triumph over the Barako Bull Energy in their knockout game in the PBA Governors’ Cup on Tuesday night at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum.
Josh Vanlandingham played his best basketball in his team’s most important game, finishing with 18 points built around four triples. His explosive performance came at just the right time for Powerade, with David unable to return because of an ankle injury.
The Tigers didn’t panic in the absence of Philippine Cup Best Player David, and
Vanlandingham kept the game in hand.His last triple of the game gave the Tigers an 84-75 lead in the early part of the fourth before Rudy Lingganay nailed another triple to give the team a sizeable advantage with 8:50 left.
“I had mixed feelings on the absence of Gary, but I knew at the back of my mind, any player from Josh, Rey (Guevarra) to Lordy (Tugade), these players can step up and pick up the cudgels for us,” said Tigers coach Bo Perasol.
“I’d really like to take my hat off to Josh. He was the catalyst in this game, and of course, Omar (Sneed), he provided the inspiration,” added Perasol.
Without the high-scoring David, who averaged 26.4 points before this game, six Powerade players finished in double figures led by Sneed’s 24 points and 15 rebounds.
David was able to score all of his 13 points in the first period before sitting out the game the rest of the way. Sean Anthony, Rey Guevarra and JVee Casio each scored 10 points for the Tigers.
Powerade will now face the Meralco Bolts in another knockout match for the final semifinal berth.
POW 99 – Sneed 24, Vanlandingham 18, David 13, Anthony 10, Guevarra 10, Casio 10, Lingganay 7, Salvador 4, Belasco 2, Tugade 1, Adducul 0.
BAR 95 – Hickerson 20, Seigle 20, Kramer 14, Miller 10, Tubid 9, Pennisi 8, Cruz 7, Allado 7, Vergara 0, Salvacion 0.
QS: 28-26, 52-52, 79-70, 99-95.
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| LeRoy Hickerson and the Energy got eliminated by the Powerade Tigers in a tightly-fought encounter. |
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| Josh Vanlandingham played his best game yet in the absence of chief gunner Gary David. |
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| Danny Seigle gives William Antonio something to think about in the shaded lane. |
MERALCO BOLTS over POWERADE TIGERS, 94-86
After six conferences in the PBA, the Meralco Bolts have broken through to the league’s semifinals.
On Wednesday night at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum, the Bolts beat down a Powerade squad playing its second game in as many nights, 94-84, to march to the next round of the Governors’ Cup.
Import Mario West played another steady game, finishing with 26 points, eight rebounds and four steals, while also working double time defending Gary David.
The rest of the Bolts did their share in outsprinting and outgunning the entire Tigers crew, which has overachieved this season.
“I told my players before the start of the game that we Filipinos are not equipped to play back-to-back games, so I mentioned to them that our advantage is our running legs,” said Meralco coach Ryan Gregorio, whose team had more fast break points, 20-6, and turnover points, 22-11, than the Tigers.
Meralco’s victory completed the semifinals cast for the season-ending conference, joining Rain or Shine, B-MEG, Talk ‘N Text, Petron and Ginebra in the next round.
Gregorio put the Meralco franchise’s feat in perspective.
“The hardest is always the breakthrough,” said Gregorio. “We nearly made it to the semis last conference, but we made sure our second one won’t slip away. We made it to the playoffs in two of the three conferences this season. But tonight’s game is about effort.”
The Bolts were helped by the fact that six teams made the semifinals this conference, as opposed to four teams in the first two tournaments of the season.
David, who was nursing an ankle injury, finished the game with 22 points, but was held to only five in the second half by the tight defense of West.
As a team, Meralco also did well in shackling Powerade, particularly in the third period when the Bolts held the Tigers to a lone field goal in a four-minute stretch.
That triggered the Bolts’ 19-6 run as they posted a 67-54 lead, 3:32 left in the third.
MER 94 – West 26, Cardona 24, Hugnatan 14, Mercado 10, Reyes 6, Taulava 6, Macapagal 4, Ross 2, Artadi 2, Bulawan 0.
POW 86 – Sneed 29, David 22, Casio 9, Salvador 7, Anthony 6, Guevarra 4, Tugade 4, Adducul 3, Belasco 2, Martinez 0, Lingganay 0, Vanlandingham 0.
QS: 18-25, 44-45, 69-60, 94-86
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| Paul Artadi and Mac Cardona share a light moment as the Bolts officially enter the semifinals. |
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| Omar Sneed's stint in the PBA ended with a loss to Meralco. |
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| Asi Taulava helped tow the Bolts past the Tigers and into the next phase of the Governors' Cup. |
In the last couple of days, Barako Bull’s Don Allado has been put in the spotlight because of some, er, interesting things he tweeted. For a more thorough look at this matter, click on the following links:
Source: Unless otherwise specified, game recaps were compressed and compiled from InterAKTV. (Writing credit to Reynaldo Belen.)
Images: All images are from InterAKTV. (Photo credit to Paolo Papa and Paul Ryan Tan)
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