Purefoods rams Tanduay

The Purefoods Hotdogs gave coach Eric Altamirano a warm welcome-back greeting in the form of a 75-66 demolition of former mentor Derick Pumaren and his Tanduay Rhum Masters in their initial outing in the PBA All-Filipino Cup at the Philsports Arena last night.

Altamirano admitted he wasn’t fully comfortable back on the bench after nine months on the sidelines but his players made it happen as they started their campaign in the tournament on a bright note.

"Hindi ako nakatulog kagabi maybe because of the excitement. I had my first game jitters again and I have to give it to my players because they came out very hard, showing great determination to win," said Altamirano, back at Purefoods after being sacked at Mobiline in the second conference last year.

The Hotdogs gave Altamirano a welcome party at the expense of Pumaren, another former Purefoods coach, whose stint with Tanduay started on a losing note.

One of the teams coming back this year with little changes in its lineup, Purefoods easily showed better cohesion against a team which has a virtual new look with only five holdovers from last year’s lineup.

In a return match of two teams which squared off in the semifinals of this tournament last year, Purefoods emerged triumphant with old mainstays Andy Seigle, Alvin Patrimonio, Noy Castillo and EJ Feihl delivering big on both ends of the court.

Seigle had a huge double-double game with 17 points and 15 rebounds with Patrimonio adding 14 points and five rebounds, Castillo 12 points and five assists and Feihl 10 points and six rebounds.

Jeffrey Cariaso, Tanduay’s new team captian, showed his leadership, finishing with 22 points, nine rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block in 42 minutes of action. Noli Locsin scored 18 points and pulled down pulled down seven rebounds in his first game in a Tanduay jersey.

The Hotdogs dominated the boards with Seigle and Rey Evangelista imposing their presence at the paint against the Rhum Masters who started with a small lineup with new recruit Bonel Balingit coming in late for the game.

Fielded in the final quarter, Balingit played with great intensity but Feihl held his ground in their matchup which attracted much attention from the crowd in the venue. Feihl got the crowd up on their feet when he slammed off Balingit to give the Hotdogs at 70-52 spread midway in the final quarter.

Tanduay actually took control in the first quarter but Purefoods seized a 40-31 lead at halftime and went on to dominate the final half.

Altamirano said his players played with their hearts out although they’re still sorting out a problem within a team. He refused to mention the problem while denying there are ongoing talks for a trade involving Seigle.