Sizzling Hotdogs force sudden death

Purefoods, practically playing wounded, leaned on sheer guts as it rallied from nine points down in the last five minutes of play to beat Red Bull, 77-75, in a highly-emotional game and force a rubber match in their best-of-five semifinal showdown in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Araneta Coliseum last night.

Boyet Fernandez came off the bench to provide the needed hustle and his teammates took the cue as they made a wild dash at the finish, grabbing the game from the hands of the badly-stunned Red Bull squad.

But not until Kerby Raymundo muffed a potential game-tying shot in the closing seconds that the Hotdogs sealed the stirring triumph that forced a two-game standoff in the series. The two teams play their do-or-die game Wednesday at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.

"We came into the game walking wounded with Andy Seigle still hurting. We couldn’t match up with them (the Thunder) but we showed a lot of heart. Our tenacity and resiliency allowed us to come back from a big deficit," said Purefoods coach Eric Altamirano.

Not only did the Hotdogs show their big heart. They played with lots of guts, too.

With Fernandez suffering a black eye on a flagrant foul by Mick Pennisi with 3.53 left, the Hotdogs played like a wounded tiger, coming away with a decisive 8-3 finishing kick in the game.

Pennisi’s foul triggered a near free-for-all but the proverbial cooler heads prevailed. The Fil-Italian player drew another technical foul in the incident and was thrown out of the game.

Alvin Patrimonio took the charity and another commotion erupted after the Purefoods team captain missed the shot. The Hotdogs bench flared up and nearly lynched freelance photographer Joseph Pan, who took a shot at Patrimonio, who was apparently distracted by the camera’s flash.

But the Thunder couldn’t convert a basket on the other end and the Hotdogs pulled even at 72-all on a triple by David Wood in the ensuing play with time down to 3:26.

With the momentum shifting to their side, the Hotdogs put on the heat on the Thunder, who simply cracked under pressure, thus bungling their first-ever crack at the best-of-seven title playoff.

Still, the Thunder gained a chance to send the game into overtime when Fernandez, fouled by Lordy Tugade with 9.1 seconds left in the contest and the Hotdogs ahead by only one at 76-75, split his charities. But Red Bull blew it off as Raymundo missed a drive against Wood in the dying seconds.

Altamirano said Pennisi’s flagrant foul on Fernandez helped them as it somehow spawned a rash of anger on his players.

Wood finished with 18 points, including seven in the final quarter, while Noy Castillo and Rey Evangelista tossed in 14 points each for the Hotdogs, who now have the momentum in the deciding game of the series.

Anthony Lang fired 22 points while Davonn Harp and Tugade chipped in 16 and 10 points, respectively for the Thunder.

The other final slot is being disputed by the San Miguel Beermen and the Alaska Aces in the other game at presstime with the former needing only a victory to gain another trip to the championship.