The Phone Pals dominated the Realtors with Sta. Lucia new import Mark Davis getting into early foul trouble and eventually fouling out with over 14 minutes left to play. But coach Bill Bayno’s boys celebrated the victory so early and they nearly paid for it as the Realtors waged a spirited comeback in the homestretch.
Talk N Text was fortunate St. Lucia ran out of time in its comeback bid and the Phone Pals got away with a third successive victory and a piece of the lead with the Purefoods Hotdogs, the Red Bull Thunder, the Alaska Aces and the RP Hapee squad on identical 3-1 win-loss marks.
The Realtors slid further down the chart with a 1-3 slate.
Earlier, the Phone Pals brandished a near impeccable game with Jerald Honeycutt lording it over the boards while Richie Frahm, Victor Pablo, Mark Telan and Gilbert Demape doing damage on the Realtors on well-executed passing game and good outside shooting.
Talk N Text erected a 16-point lead, 32-16, as early as the first quarter and although Sta. Lucia fought back in the second period, the Phone Pals broke away anew, taking a 61-51 halftime lead which they padded to 16, 69-53, on an 8-2 opening binge in the third quarter.
Then came the big break for Talk N Text midway through the third period when Davis, debuting for Sta. Lucia in place of Lelan McDougal, committed two successive fouls with the last an offensive infraction against Norman Gonzales.
Pumped up by the ejection of Davis, the Phone Pals scored the next seven points of the game to make it 80-65 with two minutes to go in the quarter.
Some of the crowd in the venue were already heading for the exit when the Realtors got back into the game at 84-88 following a stirring 11-2 run by Felix Belano, Marvin Ortiguerra and Victor Thomas at the start of the fourth quarter.
The Realtor fell behind with a double-digit deficit agains at 88-98 but they still refused to give up the fight, losing the game by just a single basket as they scored the game’s last eight points in the final minute.
Honeycutt, though the first among the Phone Pals to relax with the victory looking in the bag, paced Talk N Text with 24 points. Frahm added 19 with Pablo dipping in 18, Demape 16 and Telan 11.
Demape proved to be the backbone of Talk N Text surge in the first half with the Visayan pointguard ably tending the backcourt while providing baskets on outside snipings and through fastbreaks. He scored all of his 16 points in the first 20 minutes of play.
Davis, a Texas Tech product who saw action for four teams in a five-year stint in the NBA, scored 26 points before fouling out in the game. Thomas also had 26.
Meanwhile, the tournament goes out-of-town anew today with Purefoods (3-1) and the Selecta Philippine Team (1-3) clashing at 6 p.m. at the Balanga People’s Center in Balanga, Bataan.
RP Selecta will finally play with a complete set of backcourt players with Jimmy Alapag, whose Filipino citizenship confirmed by the Department of Justice Tuesday, joining the national hopefuls in action.