(From PBA)
THERE'S still life for Barako Energy Coffee.
The Energy Coffee Masters came up with the needed defensive stops in the endgame to emerge a 103-100 winner over the struggling Sta. Lucia Realtors Sunday and keep alive their hopes of making the wildcard round of the PBA Fiesta Conference at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
Sammy Monroe finished with a personal conference-high 41 points, which may slightly pale to Anthony Johnson's own PBA career-high 45. But the former had one of the two blocks Barako Coffee pulled off inside the last minute that enabled it to notch the much-needed win.
Rob Reyes accounted for the other swat and Paolo Hubalde drew a crucial charge, before the entire Barako team played lock-down defense in the last 25 seconds that prevented SLR from overcoming a 102-100 edge on Aris Dimaunahan's three-point play.
After the game, five wins are needed to tie for ninth place and the last wildcard berth and the Coffee Masters hope to improve on their current 3-13 win-loss slate when they wind up their elimination round assignments against Talk N Text and B-Meg Derby Ace.
“As of now, short-term goals lang kami,” said Barako coach Junel Baculi. “Our last two games are very, very tough opponents but let's see what we can do.”
The loss was Sta. Lucia's sixth straight, keeping it at eighth with a 4-11 slate and in danger of figuring in a possible playoff for a wildcard spot, with games against Air21, Alaska and Coca-Cola coming up.
The hope, however, remains positively there for the team that now trails ninth-running Air21 (3-12) by just half a game.
“We need to win those games. Pero kahit mukhang mahirap we will be there trying,” said Baculi. “”We'll just try and keep the game close and see what happens.”
Johnson added 15 rebounds, but his efforts started getting flushed when his bid to add on to SLR's 100-99 lead through a two-handed dunk was foiled by Reyes.
Reed Juntilla muffed a lean-in jumper, but SLR's Ogie Menor shrugged off discretion and, instead of waiting for his teammates and set up a play, went for a drive that was foiled by Monroe, leading to Dimaunahan's go-ahead drive and charity off Pong Escobal.
Monroe's own free throw following Gabby Espinas' charge made it a three-point game that stood after the Coffee Masters' team defense prevented the Realtors from making anything out of two inbound plays inside the last 4.3 seconds, even turning the ball over in the last four-tenths of a second.
Local support proved to be a very major factor, notably Mark Isip, who doubled his conference high with a season-best 22 points, including eight in the final period that helped Barako overcome a 93-99 deficit in the last 3:29 of play.
“I'm always challenging them. Me ibubuga sila,” maintained Baculi. “It’s just a matter of giving them confidence, showing them how to deliver at crunchtime. They're responding now.”
Menor and Paul Escobal each had at least 10 points while Nic Belasco had 14 rebounds and Espinas wound up with six of his seven boards off the offensive glass in the second half that helped SLR overcome a 44-57 third quarter deficit.
But when it came to the crunch, the Realtors locals unabashedly kept looking for Johnson that proved the most successful when he went 5-of-5 from beyond the arc and powered the team to a 77-74 lead going into the final 12 minutes. (NC)
The scores:
Barako Coffee 103 - Monroe 41, Isip 22, Juntilla 11, Dimaunahan 8, Hubalde 7, Gaco 4, Reyes 4, Vergara 2, Alonzo 2, Coronel 2, Najorda 0.
Sta. Lucia 100 - Johnson 45, Menor 12, Escobal 10, Urbiztondo 8, Espinas 8, Custodio 5, Misolas 4, Belasco 3, Omolon 2, Peek 2, Daa 1, Ross 0, Aquino 0.
Quarterscores: 25-21, 52-44, 74-77, 103-100
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