Phoenix rises, wins

Rivero, tio lead Fuel Masters past Bolts

MANILA, Philippines — “Happy” Phoenix ran over a heavyweight on its way to a PBA Philippine Cup breakthrough.

Sparked by the early sniping of Ricci Rivero and Tyler Tio and the return of veteran Jason Perkins, the Fuel Masters stunned defending champion Meralco, 109-97, last night to barge into the win column after a 0-2 start.

“In our pre-game, we talked about our situation. We were doing all the right things – going to practice early, doing extra, following the coaches – but we just couldn’t get the results we wanted,” said Phoenix coach Jamike Jarin.

“And the answer was ‘having fun.’ Probably we were pressuring ourselves too much na I’m doing all the work, how come I’m not making my shots, how come I’m making bad decisions? So we all just gathered together and had fun and played our game and stayed together.”

Rivero fired a 14-point sizzler spiked by three triples in the first period, enabling Phoenix to seize control, 31-13. Tio picked it up in the second with eight as the Fuel Masters widened the gap to a high of 23 at 44-21 before settling for a 58-37 tear at halftime.

Phoenix’ first-half domination had an eerie resemblance to their previous meeting in the Commissioner’s Cup. In that prior match held Nov. 29, the Fuel Masters went up by 23 only to fold up in the face of the Bolts’ searing rally in the last 24 minutes and yielded a numbing 111-109 defeat.

Later, Converge regained its winning ways with a 111-80 demolition of Blackwater. The FiberXers improved to 2-2 as the Bossing fell to 0-2.