Realtors force ‘rubber’

Sta. Lucia unloaded all the artillery at its disposal in a decisive third quarter siege and pounced on a listless Pop Cola side, 97-80, and forced a sudden death in their side of the semifinals in the PBA Governors’ Cup last night at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.

The Realtors came out on all cylinders in the third quarter and turned what had started as a see-sawing battle into a ghastly rout as sta. Lucia levelled the series at two games apiece and stalled the Panthers first crack at the final in six years.

Game Five is set tomorrow at the Araneta Coliseum with the winner going up against earlier finalist San Miguel Beer in a best-of-seven series beginning Wednesday.

Behind a torrid offensive built around import Damien Owens, Marlou Aquino and Paolo Mendoza, the Realtors broke out of a 43-all deadlock at the half and methodically tore away from the Panthers to lead by 19 points at 70-51.

The Realtors went on to post a 20-point lead at 83-63 in the fourth quarter.

"The first half was a struggle, we struggled with our confidence. At half time we had a good shot at it," said Sta. Lucia coach Norman Black. "We had been hassling them, we knew we had what it took to beat them."

Chris Tan and Felix Belano provided the firepower coming off the bench in the second quarter as Sta. Lucia rallied from eight points down to draw level at 43-all at halftime.

The Realtors were very much in the flow of things right off the start and took a 22-21 lead after the first period but went without a basket in a four-minute stretch at the outset of the second quarter, allowing the Panthers to seize a 32-24 advantage.

But the Realtors got their act together as soon as Tan and Belano checked in place of Gerard Francisco and Paolo Mendoza. Tan and Belano combined for 12 of Sta. Lucia’s last 15 points in the first half.

Rossell Ellis unleashed sustained offensives and scored more than half of Pop Cola’s first-half output with 24. Damian Owens, on the other hand, had 16.

"Owens played well tonight, he was also a key in defense," said Black.

Curiously, the two teams both shot 50 percent from the field in the first quarter and 49 percent in the first half. Both had three assists apiece in the first period and four each in the next period.

But the Panthers lorded it over the boards with 22 rebounds to the Realtors’ 13.