PBA Update
By: Paquito Iglesias III

The round robin qualifying round is over in the Gran matador PBA Philippine Cup, and now it’s the turn of the cellar dwelling wild cards to duke it out for a chance in the quarter finals.  But before that, let’s look at a team that did marvelously in the first few games of the season, but failed to live up to expectations down the stretch.

The Coca-Cola Tigers earned a trip to the quarterfinals by defeating fellow aspirants Air21 Express, 87-73, in a hard fought game.  The win earns the Tigers a week long rest to recuperate, and leaves Air21 scrambling for a quarterfinals spot with the rest of the wildcards.

The Tigers weren’t in it all the way, as they nearly dropped the game with numerous turnovers in the 3rd quarter.  But stellar performances fro Ali Peek and Rafi reavis saved the day, with Peek finishing the game with 20 points and 11 rebounds and Reavis scoring 12 and pulling down 17.  The Express made it exciting down the stretch, however, with a comeback midway in the third that pulled them within one point on a basket by Wynne Arboleda.  Nino Canaleta and Arboleda scored 15 and 13 respectively. 

The Express will next play the Sta. Luica Realtors in the wildcard phase.  Both the Expres and the Brangay Ginebra Kings are  going into the wildcard phase with a 7-9 win loss record.  The Tigers earned the 3rd and final outright quarterfinal spot to join early qualifiers Red Bull and Purefoods.

In another game, quarterfinal qualifiers the Red Bull Barako were beaten in a close match by the barangay Ginebra Kings, 109-107.  The Red Bull Barako had nothing to lose in the game since they already had an outright quarterfinals berth, but the win was important for barangay Ginebra in order to improve their standings going into the wildcard phase.  The Kings are now 7-9, matching the Air21 Express. 

The Kigs have been plagued by injuries of late, and things simply got worse in this game, as Mike Holper was rushed to Cardinal Santos Hospital after a bad fall.  Holper scored 9 points before he left the game.  Leading the charge for the Kings were Mark Caguioa and JayJay Helterbrand, who scored 24 and 22 points respectively.  Eric Menk had a rather slow night, finishing with only 13 points.  Lordy Tugade paced the Red Bull barako with a staggering 29 points, but no one else seemed to back him up, with none of the Red Bull players going above the 15 point mark.

Still, the loss wasn’t that great for the Barako since they’re already assured of a quarterfinals berth.

The three other teams that need to survive the wildcard and salvage the last ticket to the quarterfinals are Talk ‘N Text (6-10), Sta. Lucia Realty (4-12) and Air21 (at 7-9) playoff Sunday. 

PBA Trivia: 1986 Tanduay scores 141-123 win over Shell to clinch 2nd finals berth. Ginebra beats Great Taste 173-144 in what will be the season's highest-scoring game ever.

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2 June 2006