MANILA, Philippines - Red-hot Petron Blaze used one big scoring run in the early going and roared mightily to the finish, rolling past Barako Bull, 112-87, to build a two-game cushion in the PBA Governors Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum last night.
The Boosters humbled the Energy Cola in a duel of streaking tournament leaders, surging to a 13-2 lead and never looked back to post their fifth straight win following a losing conference debut against the Meralco Bolts. The streak thus enhanced their bid for a Top Four finish and the crucial incentive.
“We played really well tonight. We played good defense and, at the same time, our offense was there,†said Petron coach Gie Abanilla.
“It’s a big win and a big thing. But it’s kind of a double-edge thing. We’re on top, and there’s a danger there. If we believe the hype and all the good things we’ve been hearing, it could be a cause for complacency,†Abanilla also said.
The Boosters scored almost at will, hitting as high as 70 percent in the second quarter to take a 58-38 bulge at the half.
They stretched their lead to 24, 93-69, at the end of the third period and kept a huge gap all the way till the end despite import Elijah Millsap sitting out the last 13 minutes of play.
Outplayed throughout, the Energy Cola suffered their first loss in their last four games and went down to joint second with the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters at 3-2.
Later in the night, Meralco made it a three-way tie at second as the Bolts, boosted by Mario West’s 20-point explosion in the third quarter, drubbed the Alaska Milk Aces, 84-74.
West outscored the entire Alaska team in the third period, and the Bolts went on to relegate the Aces down to joint fifth with the Batang Pier and the Talk n Text Tropang Texters at 2-2.
Globalport tries to catch up with Barako and Rain or Shine as the Batang Pier clash with the San Mig Coffee Mixers at 5:15 p.m. at the Cuneta Astrodome today. The Wednesday card also features Barangay Ginebra versus Air21 at 7:30 p.m.
Millsap collected 31 points, nine rebounds, four assists and one steal though seeing action in only 31 minutes. Arwind Santos and Chris Lutz contributed 20 and 19 points, respectively, as the Boosters dished out one of their best games in the tourney thus far.