Pop Cola caught Tanduay wallowing in miserable form and the 800s turned back the Rhum Masters, 63-55, in a sleeper of a contest to check their alarming skid in the Alaxan-PBA All Filipino Cup eliminations at the PhilSports Arena last night.
Finding the Rhum Masters out-of-sync, the 800s exploited the situation, wriggling out of a four-game losing skein to get back in the thick of the fight for the quarterfinals.
The 800s actually continued to struggle in their game but caught the Rhum Masters practically sleeping as they pulled even with Shell Velocity and Barangay Ginebra at seventh place with identical 3-6 (win-loss) slates.
Tanduay converted only 23 of 97 attempts in a woeful shooting from the field (24 percent) as it suffered its second defeat in 10 outings.
With practically all its players firing blanks, Tanduay narrowly missed establishing the league all-time low outputs.
So poor was Tanduay's shooting that it even went 0-of-12 from the two point area in the second quarter as it ended the first half with only 15 points -- the second all-time low, next to Mobiline's 12 in a 62-85 blowout to Alaska last May 23, 1998.
The Rhum Masters shot poorly even from the stripe, making only 7-of-18 attempts for a 39 percent clip.
But Pop Cola coach Chot Reyes believed it was their defense that did Tanduay in.
"The guys refused to lose and they put up a good defense. Our biggest achievement in the game was holding Tanduay below 60 points," said Reyes.
"This is a perfect example of what you may call a search for identity of this team. We came out soft against unfancied teams but we came out strong against fancied teams. Against San Miguel, I believed the boys played very well though we lost in the end. This time, we played tough against the fearsome Tanduay team," added Reyes.
Nelson Asaytono came up with a double-double game with 17 points and 12 rebounds while Henry Fernandez went 4-of-5 from the three-point zone and finished with 16 points as they led the 800s to their first victory in nearly a month.