Pharmaquick foils La Salle’s bid

Arnel Mañalac redeemed himself from a series of mediocre games with a superb one yesterday as he powered Pharmaquick past La Salle-Osaka with a 71-59 rout in the PBL Challenge Cup at the Makati Coliseum.

Mañalac scored six of his 21 points in the final quarter, including a triple in the last minute that secured the victory for the also-ran Drug Specialists, whose win likewise dashed the semis hopes of La Salle.

"Trabaho lang. We played hard because we want to prove something despite the fact that we’re already out of contention," said Pharmaquick coach and former PBA star Bernie Fabiosa, whose wards dealt their rivals their seventh loss in nine games, the same as that of the Drug Specialists.

A triple by Paolo Malonzo early in the fourth shoved the Iridologists to a 52-51 lead but the Drug Specialists struck back with an 11-7 run to regain the lead before thwarting their rivals’ series of rallies down the stretch. — Joey Villar