Beermen trip Hotdogs for solo lead

GEN. SANTOS CITY – San Miguel Beer got off to a strong start but still needed to gut it out at the finish to overcome a stubborn challenge by Purefoods, 85-79, in a road game in the Gran Matador PBA Fiesta Cup at the Lagao Gymnasium here last night.

Leading by as many as 20 points earlier, the Beermen went on to reclaim the solo lead in the season-ending tourney with a fifth win against two losses.

The Hotdogs kept on fighting back from huge deficits but eventually ran out of time in a bid for a full-blown rally, suffering a second straight loss and their third in seven games in all.

Purefoods just wouldn’t quit though ace local Kerby Raymundo and import Antonio Smith going into foul trouble early.

But the Beermen would always find an answer just as the Hotdogs mounted big comebacks, completing a wire-to-wire win.

The Beermen scored the game’s first 10 points, keeping the Hotdogs scoreless in the first five minutes of play in a strong start that gave them a 25-10 lead in the opening quarter.

Starting the second quarter the same way they did in the first, the Beermen opened up a 20-point lead at 34-14 but couldn’t sustain the momentum, settling for a 42-38 halftime edge.

James Yap made 14 points in the second quarter, sparking and fuelling Purefoods’ second-quarter siege capped by an 11-0 run to close the first half.

The Beermen drove the wedge early while making 58 percent of their shots as against the Hotdogs’ woeful 22-percent field-goal shooting in the first quarter.

Meanwhile, Coca-Cola played a hell off a game without an import the last time out and now hopes to do better as it introduces Darrell Johns versus Red Bull Barako today at the Astrodome.

The Tigers came out with an inspired game even with import Bakari Hendrix hapless on the bench with a strained ligament, scoring a highly improbable 102-82 rout of the Talk n Text Phone Pals Sunday at the Araneta Coliseum.

The all-Filipino Coke squad played so well that coach Eric Altamirano said, in jest, that they might as well play without an import the rest of the tourney.

Seriously, Altamirano said their victory over Talk n Text is hard to repeat that they’re calling on Johns versus the Thunder in their 4:45 p.m. game today. Talk n Text, still smarting from its sorry loss to Coca-Cola, collides with FedEx at 7:35 p.m.

Red Bull is on a roll, fresh from a 98-89 win over Shell where Nelson Asaytono reached a personal milestone surging into No. 5 in the league’s all-time scoring ladder.

The Tigers will surely improve their inside game with the 7-foot-1 Johns to man the slot for the team.

An internet review of Johns said the former Chicago State player is a "strong big man that can score inside and isn’t the slowest man around, but doesn’t outrun many."

Johns spent his last two years of college ball at Chicago State after playing a season each for the Palm Beach Community College (1996-97), Eastern Utah (97-98) and Iowa State (98-99).

He averaged 13 points and seven rebounds a game with Chicago State.

After completing his collegiate eligibility, Johns was drafted by the Dodge City Legend in the USBL in 2001 and attended the Chicago Pre-Draft Camp in the same year.

Failing to make the grade in the NBA, Johns instead hooked up with several teams in the US minor leagues before getting tour of duties in Germany, Cyprus and China.

He suited up with the Henan Ren He Dragons in the recent Chinese Basketball Association campaign.