Bulls overrun Realtors, share lead

Red Bull clamped down on Kelly Williams and neutralized Sta. Lucia’s vaunted three-point shooting with a fine defensive game as it fashioned out a 92-73 rout last night to gain a share of the lead with its victim in the Talk n Text PBA Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.

The Bulls held this year’s top rookie pick to just eight points on his return stint from the United States while limiting the Realtors to just four triples out of 24 attempts, way below the erstwhile solo leaders’ average of 10 three-point conversions.

The victory was Red Bull’s third straight and sixth overall in eight games as the Bulls snapped the Realtors’ winning run at three for a 6-2 record.

"We’re lucky that Kelly Williams is still sleepy, the Realtors couldn’t get the spark needed from him," said Red Bull coach Yeng Guiao in Filipino, referring to the prized Fil-Am cager, who arrived late Tuesday after attending his best friend’s wedding in the US.

"Our running game worked also, we’ve been looking for it from the start and we saw it happen today (yesterday)," said Guaio. "But all of it was borne out of our defense because we contained their three-point shooting."

The win also avenged the Bulls’ 83-105 defeat to the Realtors last Oct. 25.

Williams was also limited to just six points during that game but more than made up for that scoring slack with a 16-rebound performance. He had nine last night.

Trailing 16-20 in the first quarter, the Bulls sprang back to life at resumption of the contest, outscoring the Realtors, 31-14, and taking a halftime advantage 47-34 advantage which they never relinquished in the second half.

In the nightcap, San Miguel Beer made it a double blowout as it routed Coca-Cola, 119-103, to join crowd darling Barangay Ginebra at third spot on 5-3 slates.

It was the Tigers’ sixth loss against three wins.