Mobiline didn't brandish the fearsome form it had in its last outing but still found a way to hack a follow-up win, drubbing a Devonn Harp-less Red Bull side, 89-81, last night in the Alaxan PBA All-Filipino Cup eliminations at the Philsports Arena.
The Phone Pals survived a miserable offensive game but ended up better than the fumbling Energizers to book their second straight win following three successive losses.
Red Bull, which missed the services of the 6-foot-7 Harp who's nursing a knee injury, suffered its third straight loss and fourth in five games in all despite a 28-point game from Ato Agustin.
"We struggled on offense tonight. Sabi nga ni coach Yeng (Guiao), they're out to scare their rivals, and we really got scared," said Mobiline coach Eric Altamirano.
"We were a bit lucky because somehow someone would deliver in every quarter and Bong Ravena did his part when Jherome (Ejecito) was out in the second half," Altamirano added.
In his first game in his return stint in the league, Ravena didn't pile up his usual numbers but put his shares on the defensive end. He tallied three rebounds, two points, one assist and one steal in 29 minutes of play.
Ejercito took the scoring cudgels for the Phone Pals in the first half before Jerry Codiñera and Asi Taulava took over in the second half after the former MBA star hurt his knee on a collision with a Red Bull defender.
Taulava finished with another double-double game with 19 points and 12 rebounds with Codiñera adding 18 points and Ejercito 15. Three other Phone Pals in Patrick Fran, Dondon Camaso and Vic Pablo also finished in double figures although the team shot only 41 percent from the field. Their field-goal clip improved only after making those points with the outcome of the game long settled in the fourth quarter.
Pablo best typified Mobiline's woeful shooting with the former Shell star hitting his first basket only on his 13th attempt in the night.
But despite their poor shooting, the Phone Pals controlled the tempo of the game practically throughout, taking the half at 38-32 and holding a 61-53 lead going into the final quarter.
Coming out with a hot hands last night was Agustin, who went 10-of-17 from the field and 8-of 8 from the stripe to end up the game's highest scorer with 28. He also had eight rebounds and one assist. -