Sta. Lucia gets last ride

In a virtual repeat of their first meeting, Sta. Lucia Realty encountered rough sailing against the short-handed Shell team last night but pulled through just the same to grab the last slot in the Selecta All-Filipino Cup quarterfinals.

The Realtors survived the fierce-fighting Turbochargers, 70-69, behind the endgame exploits of Jherome Ejercito and Marlou Aquino to advance to the quarters against the Coca-Cola Tigers.

The knockout quarterfinals is set tomorrow also at the Araneta Coliseum with the Realtors and the Tigers clashing in the 3:45 p.m. curtain-raiser and the Talk N Text Phone Pals and the Alaska Aces squaring off at 5:45 p.m.

"We have one more stop to make and we have to find an energy between now and Sunday to keep in step with Coca-Cola," said Sta. Lucia coach Norman Black finding himself with yet another tough knockout game at hand after hurdling San Miguel Sunday after Sta. Lucia last night.

"We’re running into a team armed with probably the highest level of intensity in the league at the moment. They will surely try to run every opportunity and so we have to control the boards," added Black.

Controlling the boards was something Sta. Lucia couldn’t do well against Shell, thus, the Realtors walked the tightrope again before repeating again to gain the last ticket in the next round.

The Realtors needed the heroics of Aquino and Ejercito at the finish to hack out what was only their first back-to-back victories in the tourney. Ejercito scored Sta. Lucia’s last five points, including three charities that sealed the outcome of the game.

Edwin Bacani canned a desperation three-point attempt at the buzzer for the final tally.

Earlier, Aquino buried back-to-back baskets and blocked a crucial attempt by Chris Calaguio, giving Sta. Lucia a 65-51 cushion entering the last two minutes of the game.