MANILA, 11 July 2003 — Jimmy Alapag scored the crucial points in the fourth period, while Asi Taulava did everything else to power the Talk ‘N’ Text Phone Pals to a 99-91 victory over the Coca-Cola Tigers and tie at 2-all the best-of-seven championship series of the 2003 Samsung-Philippine Basketball Association All-Filipino Cup at the Araneta Coliseum, on Wednesday night.
Coca-Cola’s Johnny Abarrientos drained a jumper to push the Tigers to a 78-73 lead to start the fourth period. But Alapag scored the Phone Pals next 11 points-including a three-pointer with 7 minutes to go in the game-as Talk ‘N’ Text took the lead for good, 84-82. Harvey Carey then scored on a jumper to go with Taulava’s lay-up as the Phone Pals padded their lead, 88-82.
The Tigers threatened again at the one minute mark after Ato Morano converted two free throws to cut the gap, 89-92. But Taulava scored on a lay-up and a split charity to go with Bong Ravena’s own two charities to seal the game.
The early minutes of the fourth period turned into a personal showdown between Abarrientos and Alapag. Abarrientos scored 9 points in that span against Alapag’s own 11 points.
Meanwhile, Alaska’s big men indeed came up huge in the dying seconds as the Aces snatched an 80-78 win over Shell last night in the Samsung Mabuhay Cup qualifying at the Araneta Coliseum. EJ Feihl and Ali Peek took turns coming up with the crucial baskets, enabling the team to salvage the game that seemed lost after the All- Filipino third placer squandered as much as a 16-point lead.
“We’re holding on a bit better down the stretch,” said Tim Cone of his Alaska team bidding to become the sixth and last qualifier in the conference featuring invited teams from China, Yugoslavia and Korea, as well as the ABC-bound RP squad. Already in from the PBA are San Miguel Beer, Talk ‘N’ Text, Coca Cola, Red Bull and FedEx.
The Aces needed the last-minute heroics of Ali Peek before beating the Shell Turbo Chargers, 80-78, to tie the Sta. Lucia Realtors on top of the standings of the single-round robin eliminations at the Araneta Coliseum.
The Aces started strong but seemed to tire as the game wore on.
Mike Cortez missed a hurried jumper from the baseline but Peek was there for the follow-up to push the Aces on top 80-78. The Turbo Chargers had more than 10 seconds to equalize but Chris Calaguio chose to go for the win with a try for a three-pointer. Calaguio missed his attempt and John Arigo chased down the loose ball to preserve the Alaska win. Tony Dela Cruz drained a jumper from the top of the key to tie the count at 78-all with less than 2 minutes to go in the game. It was anybody’s ballgame at that point and the Aces needed the extra effort from Peek to pull out the victory. Although Alaska took the early initiative the Turbo Chargers gained their form as the game wore on finally taking the lead, 65-63 early in the fourth period. The Alaska Aces got double-digit scoring from Ali Peek and John Arigo-who tallied 11 and 10 points, respectively-as early as the first half to post a 45-38 half-time lead. The Aces protected a 10-point edge after the first period, 24-14. They then posted their biggest lead of the half-16 points- after making an 11-5 run to open the second period to hike their lead, 35-19. The Turbo Chargers made their own run behind the hot hands of Chris Calaguio and Tony Dela Cruz who led the Shell scoring with 12 and 11 points, respectively, at half-time. The Aces-who had just lost a five-game semifinal series against the Talk ‘N’ Text Phone Pals last week-seemed in better shape than the Turbo Chargers early in the game.
In a related development, Talk ‘N’ Text center Paul Asi Taulava capped a tournament of dominance by bagging the Best Player of the Conference award yesterday before Game 4 of the Samsung PBA All-Filipino Cup. The 6-foot-10 Fil-Tongan posted a total of 3,294 points on votes and statistics to earn his first major award since joining the Pangilinan franchise in 1999. Taulava garnered 567 statistical points, 1,513 votes from sportswriters, 414 votes from fellow players and 800 from the four-man committee made up of representatives from the PBA Press Photographers, NBN-4, the PSA and SCOOP. He finished way ahead of Coca-Cola swingman and former teammate Jeffrey Cariaso who had 1,035 points.
