Alaska and
Rain or Shine remained firmly entrenched on top of the heap with wins this past
Holy Week. Meanwhile, Meralco remained in the middle of the pack even as Barako
Bull put themselves in a prime spot to contend for one of the bottom Playoff
spots in the 2013 Commish Cup.
In Holy
Wednesday’s curtain-raiser, Meralco beat GlobalPort, 103-92, with Eric Dawson
pumping in 14 of his team's 32 points in the final canto. He also collected 13
rebounds, had 5 assists, and 2 steals. No wonder he was the NBA D-League's
Impact Player of the Year in the 2011-2012 season. The biggest takeaway from
this game, however, was the 30-point outing of Mac Cardona. Captain Hook shot
10-of-14 from the floor, including making all three of his triples, to spur the
Bolts to a .500 record. If his resurgence lasts for more than a couple of
games, then the Bolts could be dark horses for a deep Playoff run.
In the
meantime, it's official -- the Batang Pier are the bring-up-the-rear team of
the PBA. Sol Mercado's playmaking has gone south, Willie Miller's offense is on
hiatus, and Japeth Aguilar just isn't productive alongside Sylvester Morgan.
Call it quits and then on to the next conference?
In the last
PBA game before the Biyernes Santo break,
Alaska defeated Petron, 92-84. If you
watched this game, then you have got to love the heart of former San Sebastian
Staglet and UE Red Warrior Raphy Reyes. Here's a guy who sat on the bench for
long stretches early this season, watching JV Casio orchestrate the offense.
Now that Casio continues to sit out because of his injury, Reyes has seized the
chance to strut his stuff. Against Petron, the scrappy guard scored 11 points
and scattered 3 assists with no turnovers. Hardly stratospheric numbers, but
for someone like Reyes, those already indicate a meteoric rise. French-American
Rob Dozier was mighty impressive here, too. After Alaska's big loss to San Mig
Coffee last weekend, Dozier dominated in the fourth period, scoring 16 of his
32 points to stave off the late challenge by the Boosters. He also grabbed 18
rebounds, had 4 assists and 2 blocks as the Aces regained the top spot ahead of
the Elasto-Painters.
Petron,
meanwhile, just cannot catch a break with its imports. Renaldo Balkman was
awesome on the court, but was more volatile than an active volcano. Now they
have Rodney White, who's pretty tame both off and on the court. White shot just
1-of-9 from the floor in 21 minutes of action.
 |
| Raphy Reyes has been stepping up in the absence of JV Casio. |
In Easter
Sunday’s opener, Rain or Shine overcame Air21, 94-83, as Jeff Chan seemed to
have broken out of his funk. He shot 5-of-9 from the field to finish with 16
points. A point of improvement, though, could be his FT shooting. He also shot
just 5-of-9 from the line. The win was far from perfect, though. ROS import
Bruno Sundov's foul blues plagued him as he sat out most of the second half
after getting his fourth and fifth fouls early in the third quarter. This left
coach Yeng Guiao shaking his head, naturally.
On the other
end of the floor, Mike Dunigan was a monster in the first three periods,
compiling 31 points. And then the fourth quarter happened. The former
University of Oregon standout produced just 3 points in the last 12 minutes
thanks to great interior D by ROS.
Lastly, it
seems the Barako Bull Energy Cola really took Easter’s theme of resurrection to
hear after they won over San Mig Coffee, 105-100. Just like Chan, it seems like
Josh Urbiztondo may have broken out of his slump, too. He shot 8-of-13 from the
field, including 4-of-7 from rainbow country, to finish with 22 points. Now if
he can just cut down on the TOs (six in this game).
With this
loss, the Mixers fell to 5-6. In one weird second half sequence, SMC playmaker
Mark Barroca was handed a technical foul after game officials noticed he was
wearing an Alex Mallari jersey. Barroca had to be subbed out and he rushed back
to the locker room to get the correct uniform. Is Barroca ready to admit he's
Mallari's biggest fan now? In contrast, James Yap, in the midst of his very
public private troubles, still managed to do well here. Big Game James netted
22 points on 9 of 19 FG shooting to go along with 7 rebounds and 3 assists. Too
bad the Mixers lost in the end.
Game Recaps:
MERALCO BOLTS over GOLBALPORT,
103-92
The real Mac
Cardona finally showed up for Meralco.
The missing
link for his team in the past two games, Cardona scored 30 points to help the
Meralco Bolts come away with a 103-92 triumph over the slumping GlobalPort
Batang Pier Wednesday at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum.
The victory
snapped the Bolts’ two-game Commissioner’s Cup losing streak, while sending the
Batang Pier to their eighth straight defeat.
“I just told
him don’t do things outside of his comfort level,” said Meralco coach Ryan
Gregorio of Cardona, Meralco’s top gun who averaged just 2.5 points over the
past couple of outings.
“Just play
with so much fun and things will fall at a proper place.”
Cardona’s
breakout game helped the Bolts to a 5-5 win-loss record, forging a five-way
logjam at fourth to eighth places alongside Air 21, Barangay Ginebra San
Miguel, San Mig Coffee, and Talk ‘N Text.
Import Eric
Dawson finished with 37 points and 13 rebounds.
But his fine
outing was marred by a verbal tussle with GlobalPort coach Junel Baculi after
the final buzzer.
“I told him
to calm down because he’s a good example to his fellow players and the viewing
public,” said Gregorio, before adding, “and a lot of imports are
self-destructing so don’t be part of the statistics.”
Leading most
of the way, the Bolts saw their lead sliced to only four points, 69-65, late in
the third period.
But Dawson
scored 14 of his team’s 32 fourth-quarter points as the Bolts finally put away
cellar-dwelling the Batang Pier, whose record fell to 2-9.
MER 103 – Dawson 37, Cardona 30, Hodge
11, Timberlake 10, Salvacion 5, Reyes 4, Hugnatan 4, Vanlandingham 2, Ross 0,
Buenafe 0.
GLO 92 – David 29, Morgan 22, Mercado
11, Yee 10, Miller 7, Aguilar 5, Mandani 4, Salvador 2, Antonio 2, Belencion 0,
Aljamal 0.
QS: 21-19, 48-41, 71-65, 103-92
 |
| GlobalPort's braintrust doesn't look too happy. |
 |
| Mac Cardona seems to have rediscovered his fine form against the Batang Pier. |
ALASKA over PETRON, 92-84
Robert
Dozier scored 12 of his 32 points in the closing minutes to carry Alaska against
Petron Blaze, 92-84, in PBA Commissioner’s Cup action Wednesday night at the
SMART-Araneta Coliseum.
The Aces
reinforcement added 18 rebounds and two blocks, dominating against a Boosters
squad that played most of the second half without struggling import Rodney
White, who scored just two points on 1-of-9 shooting from the field.
“Robert
Dozier is very underrated,” said Alaska coach Luigi Trillo, who noted the
Dozier had also shut down other top wing imports such as Renaldo Balkman and
Walter Sharpe.
Dozier
scored 16 points in the fourth quarter, carrying the offensive load for the
Aces, who took back first place in the standings with an 8-3 win-loss record.
Three other
Alaska players also finished with 11 points apiece: rookie Raphy Reyes, Cyrus
Baguio and Dondon Hontiveros.
It was a
career-high output for Reyes, a third-string guard who stepped up in the
absence of starter JVee Casio.
Petron,
which lost its second straight for a 6-4 record, was led by Marcio Lassiter and
Jay Washington, who scored 24 and 22 points, respectively.
ALA 92 – Dozier 32, Reyes 11, Baguio
11, Hontiveros 11, Abueva 6, Dela Cruz 6, Jazul 5, Espinas 5, Belasco 5, Eman
0.
PET 84 – Lassiter 24, Washington 22,
Cabagnot 11, Fajardo 10, Miranda 8, Santos 7, White 2, Lanete 0, Tubid 0, Pena
0.
QS: 19-23, 40-36, 71-65, 92-84
 |
| Marcio Lassiter broke out against the Aces. |
RAIN OR SHINE over AIR21,
94-83
The Rain or
Shine Elasto Painters bucked foul trouble for import Bruno Sundov for a
convincing 94-83 victory over the Air 21 Express on Easter Sunday at the SM
Mall of Asia Arena.
The victory
gave Rain or Shine a share of the Commissioner’s Cup top spot along with Alaska
with an 8-3 win-loss record, while snapping Air 21′s four-game winning run. The
Express saw their record fall to 5-6.
Sundov rode
the bench for most of the second half after committing his fourth and fifth fouls in quick succession in the third period. But Rain or Shine put the clamps
on Air 21 import Michael Dunigan, who scored just three points in the fourth
period after rampaging for 31 in the first three quarters.
“I was a
little worried when Bruno fell into the same pattern of fouling early. We had
to sit him on the bench for a long period of time,” said Rain or Shine coach
Yeng Guiao.
“We thought
it would be difficult to match up with their import, but the locals held their
own. We defended the import well by helping each other out and by the time
Bruno came back, we were in control already.”
Rain or
Shine unleashed a telling 14-0 run to break a 68-all standoff, sealed by Ryan
Araña’s basket with 5:47 left in the game.
Sundov
carried Rain or Shine in the first half, where he scored 18 points including a
stretch of three straight three-pointers. The 7-foot-3 behemoth finished with
23 points.
Jeff Chan
and Ryan Arana contributed 16 and 13 points, respectively for the Ealsto
Painters.
ROS 94 – Sundov 23, Chan 16, Arana 13,
Tiu 8, Cruz 8, Rodriguez 8, Lee 7, Quinahan 5, Norwood 2, Belga 2, Ibanes 2,
Matias 0, Jaime 0, Tang 0.
AIR 83 – Dunigan 34, Canaleta 12, Menor
7, Omolon 7, Cortez 6, Arboleda 5, Wilson 4, Ritualo 4, Sena 2, Isip 2, Baclao
0, Custodio 0.
QS: 18-18, 45-38, 63-64, 94-83
 |
| The winning run of Air21 and Mike Cortez was halted by Rain or Shine. |
 |
| Gabe Norwood rises for the transition lay-up. |
BARAKO BULL over SAN MIG
COFFEE, 105-100
Barako Bull
snapped its six-game losing streak, but not before nearly squandering a
13-point lead late in the fourth quarter to survive San Mig Coffee, 105-100, in
PBA Commissioner’s Cup action on Easter Sunday at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
With three
minutes left in the game, Barako Bull still led 98-85. But San Mig Coffee came
roaring back, cutting the lead to just two points, 102-100, with 24 seconds
left.
San Mig
Coffee sent Barako Bull rookie Emman Monfort, playing in his first PBA game, to
the line. The former Ateneo guard split his free throws, giving the Mixers a
chance to tie the game with still 19 seconds left.
But Denzel
Bowles lost the ball in the ensuing possession, and a couple of free throws
from Josh Urbiztondo and Sean Anthony sealed the game for Barako Bull.
With the
victory, Barako Bull improved its record to 4-7.
“Barako Bull
is a good team, we were just unlucky,” said Barako Bull team consultant Rajko
Toroman.
“But this
team knows how to play good basketball.”
Urbiztondo
once again led the charge for his former team with 22 points. Import Evan Brock
scored 25 points, while Mick Pennisi posted 13 of his 19 points in the fourth
quarter to key Barako Bull’s breakaway.
“Everything
was close the last five games, and I can understand the players’ frustration.
Our goal was to show to everyone that we’re a very competitive team,” said
Barako Bull coaching consultant Rajko Toroman.
“Our chances
have become bigger now going to our last three games where we play Petron,
GlobalPort, and Rain or Shine.”
San Mig
Coffee’s record fell to 5-6.
BAR 105 – Brock 25, Urbiztondo 22,
Maliksi 19, Pennisi 19, Seigle 10, Vilanueva 4, Monfort 3, Kramer 2, Anthony 1,
Intal 0, Macapagal 0.
SMC 100 – Bowles 24, Yap 22, Simon 21,
Barroca 11, Pingris 9, Mallari 5, Devance 4, Najorda 4, Reavis 0, De Ocampo 0.
QS: 24-30, 46-46, 68-75, 105-100
 |
| James Yap tests the D of Mark Macapagal. |
 |
| Josh Urbiztondo caught fire against San Mig Coffee. |
Source: Unless otherwise specified, game
recaps were compressed and compiled from InterAKTV. (Writing credit to Rey
Joble)
Images: Images are from InterAKTV and the
PBA. (Photo credit to Mark Dimo Dimalanta)
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