GOING ALL OUT
Last Tuesday, Petron Blaze coach Gee Abanilla became more convinced Barako Bull is a team that can’t be taken for granted.
The Petron Blaze Boosters needed a big run in the fourth quarter to shake off the Energy and pull off a come-from-behind 101-88 victory in Game One of their PLDT myDSL PBA Philippine Cup best-of-three quarterfinal series at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Abanilla is convinced Barako Bull is a threat they have to handle carefully.
The Petron bench chieftain said they would play Barako Bull with a lot of caution Friday as they try to close out the series and set up a highly anticipated Final Four faceoff with the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters.
Game Two of the Petron-Barako series is set at 8 p.m. also at the MOA Arena.
The Boosters find it a must to finish off the Energy early, especially with the Elasto Painters already enjoying some breather, having clinched semis entry Wednesday.
“It is very important for us to build on the momentum we had in our last game especially in the second half,” said Abanilla.
“Definitely, we want to go all out with a win in Game Two but we have to work on certain flaws and fix them before facing Barako again,” said Abanilla added.
Petron Blaze found its range in the fourth quarter, bombarding Barako Bull with huge three-point missiles in turning the game around and stealing Game One.
Marcio Lassiter, Alex Cabagnot and Chris Lutz combined for six treys to highlight a vicious 29-4 run Petron unleashed in the payoff period to claim the decisive head start in the short series.
Lassiter, barely back from a brief US trip where he attended the wake of his grandmother, dished out a spirited game at the finish, anchoring Petron’s 34-15 pounding of Barako Bull in the payoff period.
The 6-foot-2 Fil-Am forward scored 13 of his 17 points in the last quarter – nine from the three-point area.
“He just planed in from the States and gave us a very good contribution,” said Abanilla.
Cabagnot and Arwind Santos also finished with 17 points while Junmar Fajardo, Lutz and Chris Ross added 15, 14 and 10, respectively, for the Boosters who struggled early on, trailing by 12 at 35-47 late in the first half.
Barako Bull was 6-of-15 from beyond the arc while Petron converted only one of 10 tries as the Energy took the half at 49-42.
Ronjay Buenafe nailed his third trey as Barako Bull enjoyed its first double-digit spread at 40-30 while JC Intal knocked in his second triple as the Energy led by 12, 47-35, late in the second quarter. (SB)
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