Coke uncorks 3rd win in row

ILOILO – Jojo Manalo made a decisive five-point binge while playing on borrowed time in second overtime play, and Coca-Cola survived a gut-wrenching out-of-town duel with Purefoods, 93-88, for a third straight win in the Samsung PBA All-Filipino Cup at the University of San Agustin gym here last night.

The Tigers bungled what looked like a won ballgame in regulation, then teetered on the brink of disaster in the first overtime but lived on to play another extension play where they found Manalo rising to the occasion and helping the team stay unbeaten in the tourney.

Called in by coach Chot Reyes when Rob Wainwright and Ato Morano were already rooted on the bench with leg cramps, Manalo gallantly picked up the slack, opening the second overtime with a twinner and a triple – a crucial five-point run that pierced through the heart of the Hotdogs.

The Hotdogs failed to recover after falling behind by four, 87-83, on Manalo’s sudden explosion, suffering their second loss in three outings.

Purefoods had a chance to send the game into a third overtime but Noy Castillo’s long heave in front of their bench went air ball with eight ticks left.

Jeffrey Cariaso canned in two charities off a desperation foul by Gilbert Demape for the final tally.

Castillo pumped in two three-pointers earlier, with the first forcing the first overtime at 72-all and the second giving the Hotdogs a 79-75 cushion.

But the Tigers overcame that four-point deficit with William Antonio making his own triple at the buzzer, sending the game into second overtime at 82-all.

The Hotdogs started the game with a 12-2 run but the Tigers closed in at 21-23 at the end of the first period, and the two teams figured in a neck-and-neck duel to the finish.

Meanwhile, Talk N Text’s Asi Taulava and San Miguel’s Dorian Peña, two Fil-Am players suspended for two games after testing positive for marijuana, return to action today curiously in a duel between their teams at the resumption of action at the Araneta Coliseum.

Group A leader Alaska Milk clashes with Group B fourth placer Shell in the 6:30 p.m. mainer of a double-header where the league starts a fund-raising drive for the Davao airport bombing victims. Donation boxes will be put up in entrance gates of the Big Dome.

San Miguel coach Jong Uichico said it would have been okay for him if Taulava and Pena were to sit out for one more game today. He said: "Masyadong malakas si Asi, malaki ang maitutulong niya sa Talk N Text."

The Phone Pals lost their first two games played minus Taulava. They first bowed to the Turbochargers then to the Aces.

Minus Pena, the Beermen, meanwhile, split their first two games. They lost to the Tigers, 67-72, then won over the Red Bull Thunder, 93-90.