Vergel, FedEx sustain fiery run

Vergel Meneses stayed on a roll and the FedEx Express notched a third straight win in the Samsung PBA All-Filipino Cup with a 98-92 repulsing of Shell last night at the Philsports Arena.

Meneses scored bunches of baskets and orchestrated his team’s offense as the Express made it three-of-three in the last eight days after losing their first two games to the Red Bull Thunder and the Sta. Lucia Realtors.

Back in mean form after recovering from a bout with flu, Meneses had another highly-productive performance with 30 points — tying the season’s best earlier made by Jun Limpot — and eight assists. The one-time MVP winner had 21 points in their first win over the Purefoods Hotdogs and had 19 in their next win over the Alaska Aces.

"I was worried in this game because I was thinking the boys may let their guard down, taking Shell lightly. Mukhang ganoon nga ang nangyari but Vergel Meneses took charge and won the game for us," said FedEx coach Derrick Pumaren.

"Nag-usap kami ni Jerry (Codiñera). Kami ang beterano dito, so dapat kami talaga ang mag-lead dito," said Meneses, the former Jose Rizal College Heavy Bomber now in his 12th year in the league.

Shell rookie players Eddie Laure and Ronald Tubid unraveled a gem of a game of their own but Meneses negated their efforts while stepping up when needed most by his team.

Meneses fired 12 points in the fourth quarter, including six in a vicious run the Express made to break away from a tight 78-77 count.

Falling behind by eight at 77-85, the Turbochargers did everything to recover but failed, suffering a fourth straight loss after a winning debut against the Talk N Text Phone Pals.

Laure’s 27-point performance and Tubid’s 20-point game didn’t save Shell from falling to another sorry loss.

Rensy Bajar came up with big plays coming off the bench midway through the second quarter as the Turbochargers overcame a woeful start to seize a 47-46 edge at halftime.

Bajar went three-of-three from the field, dished out two assists and had one steal in a splendid second-quarter stint, helping Shell surge ahead at the half after playing catch-up from the start.

The Shell reserve pointguard from San Beda canned in a triple to tie the count at 44-all then after Meneses scored on a layup in the ensuing play, he worked on the clock before issuing an assist to Chris Calaguio for his own triple at the buzzer, making it 47-46.

The Express dominated the game until Bajar’s entry as Meneses, Codiñera, John Ferriols and Egay Billones took turns in delivering the goods for the team.

Meneses and Codiñera had four points each in a 10-2 run FedEx made to start the game.

Shell, drawing firepower from Tony dela Cruz and Eddie Laure, came within three, 23-26, at the end of the first quarter but FedEx regained a comfortable lead at 36-27 with Ferriols picking up from where Meneses and Codiñera left off in the second period.

In the second game, San Miguel Beer outmaneuvered Alaska Milk at the finish and pulled off an 81-76 decision over the Aces to stay tied with FedEx at second place in Group A with a 3-2 win-loss slate.