MANILA, 1 May 2005 — Ren-Ren Ritualo exploded in a magical fourth quarter run Friday, helping FedEx repeat over Red Bull Barako 116-106 in the Gran Matador-PBA Fiesta Conference at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City.
Ritualo virtually frolicked in the deciding period, scoring 27 points anchored on eight straight triples that completely broke the backs of the Barakos.
After Ritualo drained his last shot, he wound up with a career-high 36 points and entered his name in the 30-year-old league’s elite list of scorers.
His fourth quarter output tied Allan Caidic’s production with Presto Ice Cream in 1989 as the third all-time for a period while his eight straight treys also tied Caidic, who notched the feat in 1991 with Tivoli Ice Cream.
Johnson also turned Ritualo’s only triple miss into a short stab that made it a two-point game starting the fourth before the former La Salle standout caught fire.
Dalron Johnson had 34 points and 22 rebounds to lead Red Bull.
But just like in their last game against the Realtors, the Barakos failed to complete a fight-back — this time getting the killer blows from Ritualo.
Anthony Miller and Gary David carried much of the fight for FedEx early on with the former finishing with 28 rebounds and 22 points and the latter winding up with 20 points with 3-of-6 shooting from the three-point area.
Meanwhile, the Alaska Aces remained in center stage as they whipped the Barangay Ginebra Kings and their new import Andre Brown, 103-85, for a sixth straight win that gave them a share of league leadership with the San Miguel Beermen at 7-4, in the second game.
The Aces made a big charge coming from the halftime huddle and avenged a 71-74 loss to the Kings in their previous tiff on March 12 in Tacloban City. Alaska still had Leon Derricks and Ginebra Edner Elisma as imports in that game.
