Wood puts Purefoods out of the woods

David Wood finally lived up to expectation and found an able back-up in EJ Feihl as the Purefoods Hotdogs nailed their first win in a little over two months, repulsing the Sta. Lucia Realtors, 65-54, last night in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Philsports Arena.

Wood unravelled a game worthy of an import with Feihl somehow easing up his burden on defense, scoring 25 points and pulling down 19 rebounds to lead the Hotdogs to their first win since an 81-72 win over the Shell Turbochargers last April 6 in the final stretch of the All-Filipino Cup eliminations.

Purefoods continued to miss the services of regular starting center Andy Seigle, who’s out with a chronic right foot injury, but the team found a relatively easy time matching up with Sta. Lucia, which had yet to get out of its dilemma brought about by an off-form Ansu Sesay.

Sesay continued to be just a shade of his old self, going 6-of-29 from the field and finishing with only 15 points, 10 rebounds and one assist. For the record, Sesay averaged 24.7 points, 11.1 rebounds and a shooting clip of 45.5 percent in leading the Realtors to their first-ever finals stint in the same tournament last year.

Wood, meanwhile, outdid himself as he came up with his most impressive showing in the tournament thus far. The 36-year-old Purefoods import, who averaged only 18 points in his first two games in the local pro league, scored 17 in the first half alone last night, helping the Hotdogs take a 35-19 cushion going into the final 24 minutes of play.

In the third quarter, Wood slowed down offensively but he still imposed his presence, outrebounding the whole Sta. Lucia team, 9-8.

The Hotdogs led by an many as 19 points, 46-27, in the period but allowed the Realtors to make a decisive run to cut the deficit to 38-50 going into the playoff quarter.

With Wood, Alvin Patrimonio and Rey Evangelista at the firing end, Purefoods kept Sta. Lucia at bay the rest of the way. The Hotdogs caught up with the Realtors at 1-2 (win-loss) in the standings.

"We know that we have a tough conference ahead of us with our big guys Andy Seigle and EJ Feihl still not healthy. But the good thing is that we believe in one another and so we’re still upbeat," said Purefoods coach Eric Altamirano.

Altamirano said Feihl is still hurting with a sprained ankle while Seigle is still in the United States and might be out of the entire conference.

Feihl played for only 13 minutes and logged merely three points and two rebounds but he proved to be an intimidating force for Purefoods at the paint.

The Hotdogs outrebounded the Realtors, 45-40, while also shooting better from the field, hitting at a 37-percent clip to Sta. Lucia’s 34-percent shooting.