Big wins for Petron & Air21
Bottom beat top last night as the previously winless Petron Blaze Boosters played their best game of the PBA Commissioner's Cup and upended the erstwhile unbeaten B-Meg Llamados, 84-77, at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.
Coming off a lopsided 83-105 loss to the Meralco Bolts, the Blaze Boosters badly needed to win this one to avoid falling into a 0-3 hole — a difficult situation to overcome in such a short tournament. And from the start, they played like the more desperate team, racing out to a 16-3 lead and never looking back. It was a marked improvement from their last two games, where they came out flat and fell behind by double digits in the first half.
"We had a good adjustment," Petron coach Ato Agustin said. "We started strong, andoon energy namin. Sabi ko sa mga bata kailangan energy, aggressiveness at intensity. Okay naman response ng team. Every time we play defense and offense we were always aggressive."
The biggest adjustment Agustin made was moving Arwind Santos back to the power forward spot, who responded with a double-double of 10 points and 14 rebounds to go with three blocks. To make way for seven-foot import Nick Fazekas, Agustin had slid Santos to the small forward spot and used the comebacking Rabeh Al-Hussaini as power forward. Last night, Agustin didn't field in Al-Hussaini and started son Marc Agustin at the three spot, while rotating Joseph Yeo, Denok Miranda and Alex Cabagnot for the one, two, and three positions.
They also spread the wealth more on the offensive end. Fazekas had averaged 35 points in Petron's first two games, but scored only 23 last night as Yeo, Cabagnot, Miranda and Santos all hit double digits. The Blaze Boosters also got unexpected production from seldom-used Rey Guevarra, who had six points in nine minutes.
"Nakapag adjust din import sa defensive plan, at maganda suporta ng locals," Agustin noted. "Maganda distribution ng points ngayon may movement na. Dati we start arwind as number 3, ngayon number 4 na ulit siya. We have unlimited height sa import kaya it affects our big men."
The win snapped a five-game losing streak for Petron, while also earning Fazekas a vote of confidence from his coach.
"Right now, okay naman kami kay Fazekas. Maganda nilaro niya, maganda adjustment nya. Nag bull session kami and I told them kailangan magtulungan tayo, tulungan natin import natin. More touches din sa locals."
Petron led by as many as 19 points in the third period before B-Meg unleashed a 16-4 run that cut the lead to 68-61 early in the fourth. But Fazekas had five points and Cabagnot added a big triple and two free throws to give their team an 80-70 spread heading into the last two minutes.
Meanwhile, in the first game, Air21 welcomed former Smart Gilas naturalized player Marcus Douthit into its fold and Franz Pumaren won his first game in the pros as the Express beat the Barako Bull Energy, 97-88. Douthit had 16 points and 17 rebounds.
"I just hope we always play in Ynares," Pumaren joked after the game. "We needed somebody like Marcus to uplift the confidence of the players. I had a strange feeling coming into the game. The minute Marcus stepped into practice everybody was in a good mood and the confidence just shot up."
Douthit got ample support from the Express locals, with Bitoy Omlon, RJ Jazul, JR Sena and Mark Isip all hitting at least 10 points. On defense, the Express let Barako Bull import DerMarr Johnson get his points — the former Atlanta Hawk had 37 while playing the whole 48 minutes — while clamping down on his other teammates. Only Willie Miller (14 points) and Wynne Arboleda (12) hit double digits for the Energy locals.
Barako Bull fell to 1-2 on the eve of their trip to Dubai for the league's Middle East tour. The Energy play Rain or Shine on Wednesday in Dubai.
The Express led by 19 at halftime and were never seriously threatened in the second half. Happy to get the proverbial monkey off his back, Pumaren thinks his team will put a better fight in the Commissioner's Cup. "If we compare our team from last conference, we're a better team in terms of competitiveness but we still need more pieces."
E-mail: sid_ventura@yahoo.com. Twitter: @Sid_Ventura
