Tigers overrun Bulls in big rally

MANILA, Philippines - Coca-Cola wore down Barako Bull with an up-tempo game to overcome a 16-point first-half deficit and hack out a 120-106 victory in a duel of struggling teams in the Motolite PBA Fiesta Conference at the Astrodome last night.

Shrugging off a slow start, the Tigers came within two points, 54-56, at halftime, surged ahead, 87-83, at the end of the third period before pouncing on a weary Barako Bull team in the last six minutes of the contest to fashion out the victory.

Coca-Cola won emphatically in the end on a 23-11 closing run, improving the Tigers’ win-loss record to 3-6.

Despite the entry of another new import in Daryan Selvy, Barako Bull remained on a slump, reeling to its fifth straight defeat and ninth in 11 games overall.

Selvy, a former University of Oklahoma mainstay who took over from Jeff Varem, had a strong start with 17 points in the first half but ran out of energy, leaving the game with 3:11 left to play due to cramps.

“I’m just subbing for Kenneth but we have agreed to do something to change the attitude of the team during the game. We want to use to the hilt the skills and talents that we have. It paid off at least in this game,” said assistant coach Bo Perasol who called the shots for the Tigers with coach Kenneth Duremdes nursing sore eyes.

“We don’t know Selvy. We just tried to analyze his game right from the warmup. Obviously, he got tired and wasn’t able to deliver at crunch time,” Perasol also said.

James Penny, playing against his former team which he powered to the championship in the same tournament in 2006, paced himself well and finished with 36 points, eight rebounds, two shot blocks, one assist and one steal as against Selvy’s 30 points, 13 rebounds and five assists.

Arwind Santos put in a personal season-high of 31 points that went on top of six rebounds and four assists and Burger King outclassed Alaska Milk in the payoff period in pulling off a 106-88 win in the nightcap.

The Whoppers showed poise on the ejection of coach Yeng Guiao, pulling through to catch up with the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters at 6-5. The Aces slid to 4-7.