Taulava shrugs off cut to lead Air21 past gritty GlobalPort

Having been through plenty of battles, ageless center Asi Taulava won’t easily get slowed down by any kind of bleeding–especially with Air21 so close to achieving a goal.

The 6-foot-9 Taulava overcame a nasty cut on his left eyebrow and stood tallest anew in the crunch, helping the Express eliminate the GlobalPort Batang Pier Wednesday night 106-102 while keeping their Top Four hopes alive in the PLDT Home Telpad PBA Governors’ Cup at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City.

After absorbing a wayward elbow from GlobalPort import Dior Lowhorn that saw blood bleeding profusely from his left eyebrow, Taulava valiantly played through pain as he came up with clutch plays in the crunch that spelled the big difference in steadying Air21 in what turned out to be a frenzied windup.

Import Dominique Sutton dished out another solid outing of 28 points, 20 rebounds and six assists but it was Taulava, a one-time league MVP, who came through with decisive plays, including six of the team’s final 10 markers highlighted by a clutch short stab following a broken play that allowed Air21 to restore its lead back to three at 102-99 with 23 seconds left.
 
Taulava went on to finish with 17 points, nine rebounds and four assists while guard Jonas Villanueva, who sealed the deal with four freebies in the closing seconds, added 15 markers as the Express bounced back from a painful 109-113 overtime loss to defending champion San Mig Super Coffee last Monday and improved to 5-3 overall, moving alongside Rain or Shine for fourth spot.

Lowhorn led all scorers with 35 points while locals Alex Cabagnot and Jay Washington added at least 19 markers but the Batang Pier, despite wiping out an early 16-point deficit and enjoying an 82-78 cushion early in the payoff canto, ran out of steam and eventually bowed out of contention with their sixth straight and seventh overall loss against a lone win.

Aggressively crashing the boards throughout, the Express were plus-13 in the rebounding department, including 19 offensive rebounds that allowed them to double the Batang Pier’s 10-point output in second chance markers.

The hunger and will of the Express were typified by Taulava, who turned out to be the recipient of Joseph Yeo’s timely tap after a driving Sutton lost his balance and threw the ball in a clogged shaded lane.

Taulava, with fellow veteran Eric Menk of GlobalPort trying to overshadow him, banked in a soft touch with ease then, following a Ronjay Buenafe miss in the other end, secured the leather for Air21.

After Villanueva knocked down his freebies and made it a 104-99 count, the Batang Pier continued to entertain hopes of an upset as Cabagnot drilled in a triple over Yeo at the top of the key, cutting the deficit down to two with exactly eight seconds left.

However, Villanueva, who was fouled again by Buenafe, iced the game with two more freebies, practically putting the result beyond doubt going to the last 6.9 ticks.

Those handful of clutch plays helped the Express recover after scoring the game’s first 15 points and leading by as many as 23-7, only to get dragged into a close windup by the hard-fighting Batang Pier.

 
The Main Man: Asi Taulava refused to get beaten by a nasty cut as he kept his bearings and even emerged as the biggest difference in the Express’ finishing kick against the Batang Pier. Despite the heavy bleeding, he refused to be taken to the hospital for stitches and put himself back into the game with his eyebrow heavily bandaged.
 
Honorable Mentions: Also coming up big for Air21 were import Dominique Sutton and guard Jonas Villanueva.
 
Game Turning Point: With Air21 holding a precarious one-point lead, Sutton tried to take matters into his own hands and drove hard to the lane, only to find himself nearly getting out of bounds before issuing a desperate pass to an Express teammate.

Good thing, Yeo soared and tapped the leather to Taulava, who scored the clutch lay-up with ease, helping the Express make it a 102-99 game going to the last 23.5 seconds.
 
He Said It:
Air21 coach Franz Pumaren: Kudos to my players. I guess this game is really meant for us. Knowing the gladiator in him (Taulava), he wanted to finish this game.

You Said It (via Twitter):

 
The scores:
AIR21 (106) - Sutton 28, Taulava 17, Villanueva J.15, Yeo 13, Ramos 8, Atkins 6, Borboran 5, Poligrates 4, Cardona 4, Villanueva E. 2, Burtscher 2, Camson 2, Menor 0.

GLOBALPORT (102) - Lowhorn 35, Cabagnot 19, Washington 19, Buenafe 16, Romeo 7, Macapagal 4, Menk 2, Yee 0, Lingganay 0, Hayes 0, Salvador 0, Garcia 0, Acuna 0.

Quarterscores: 29-20, 55-47, 78-75, 106-102.