Red Bull whips Welcoat, keeps grip on No. 2

by Musong R. Castillo
Source: INQUIRER.net | December 22, 2007

Red Bull seized control early on and never let the reins of the game slip from its hands as it whipped undermanned Welcoat, 106-97, to take a firmer grip of solo second spot in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Smart Philippine Cup eliminations at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay City.

Pocket-sized Topex Robinson and Cyrus Baguio scored 15 points each to share team honors for the Red Bull Barako, who zoomed to early double-digit leads before improving to 9-5 (win-loss) overall.

They are now a full game up on idle squads Sta. Lucia, Talk ‘N Text and Alaska going into the final two weeks of the elimination round.

"But I think the biggest game for us is the Alaska game" on Christmas, coach Yeng Guiao later said. "It's important because a win there would most likely set us apart for second place."

Tournament format calls for the top two teams after this round to march on automatically into the semifinals, with the next three best records getting outright quarterfinal slots.

Only one team will get the boot and Welcoat seems to be in danger of suffering the same fate it did in its first two tournaments in the league. The Dragons, after a respectable start to their second year, have now lost eight straight games to fall to 3-12 overall, way behind the ninth-running 5-8 card of Coca-Cola.

Baguio shines

Guiao did not hide how important the game against Alaska on Tuesday is as he gave Baguio heavy minutes to find his groove this early despite the fact that he was still not in 100-percent shape last night. Baguio just came off a bout with chicken pox and hardly practiced the last week.

But Baguio did not show signs of rust, finishing some of Red Bull's fast-breaks with the same flourish as before.

The former Santo Tomas wingman dumped all his points in the last three quarters, highlighted by nine in the third which Red Bull closed out with an 84-69 lead.

Red Bull took a 42-23 lead past the halfway point of the second period and then played in cruise control the rest of the way as the Dragons, without Jay-R Reyes, Ryan Araña and Froilan Baguion, struggled to find the means to patch up the holes in their roster.

Absent dragons

Reyes missed his fourth straight game because of a bruised left knee, Araña served out a one-game suspension for physical play, and Baguion was out for the sixth consecutive outing because of an eye injury.

Meanwhile, Magnolia tries to snap a three-game slide today when the Beverage Masters collide with Alaska in a road game at the Xavier University gym in Cagayan de Oro City.

In sixth place with a level 7-7 card, the rock-solid Beverage Masters, tipped as the team to beat in almost every pre-season poll, have found life tough in the tournament and have yet to play even to a shade of their potential.

Game time is 4:30 p.m. and both teams have actually struggled of late, with the Aces taking a woeful 4-20 record in out-of-town games dating back to 2004 into the game.

The Scores:

First Game
Red Bull 106 - Robinson 15, Baguio 15, Valenzuela 13, Duncil 10, Hrabak 10, Sharma 9, Cruz 9, andaya 7, Najorda 7, Pennisi 6, Bugia 5, Membrere 0.

Welcoat 97 - Devance 23, Belasco 16, Wainwright 14, Mente 11, Dulay 10, Lopez 5, Sta. Maria 5, Tangkay 5, Gelig 4, Ballesteros 2, Ibanez 2.

Quarterscores: 27-17, 53-43, 84-69, 106-97